The Cardcaptors
by Splay
Summary: Teenage Sakura doesn't have any memory of her childhood. The past unfurls as apparent strangers walk into her life.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: SAYORAN LI**

It was a new experience to all of us. First we thought it wasn't a real thing. But we got the actual wind of it only when Mr. Chang arrived. He was great. He didn't have any awkwardness or as far as that goes, no problem in being what he was to us then. Don't get me wrong; he was guide through the tour. It was strange to be talked of something, which is so hard to believe. But the success of Chang lay in that he said it in such a matter-of-fact manner that it seemed that he had actually seen those ancient wizards make man out of stone. That's what they did, apparently, around 2000 years ago.

The cave was full of the carvings and statues all indicating what they did for a living. They did it only for the king, so that his army was never out of soldiers and kitchen never out of cooks. It seems they burned all the utensils and recipes of this man-making just after they went out of business. So, sadly for us, we'll never know how to make a man out of stone.

If I did know, it'll be used to make a date for me. I'm 19 and I've not been to one date in my whole life, excepting, of course my childhood, which I don't remember much. But face it, how much fun can a girl under ten get from a guy! But these thoughts were not bothering me much. Words of Chang, which made many laugh, especially Guoen and her friends, still ring in my ears. They were: 'Everything is possible by magic'. Does the thing known as magic exists anywhere, except possibly, in children's books?

With these thoughts I went back to our dorm. I had expected Yui to be there waiting impatiently as she is to leave today. She'll be angry for sure, I thought, because she can never bear my absent minded attitude. She had asked me to hurry. I hurried from the steps to the room. I opened the door to find Yui lying in the couch obviously in no hurry. 'Sorry I'm late,' I said automatically. 'Oh, that's ok! I'm not leaving.' 'Why not?' I asked wondering whether I should sound annoyed or happy. 'To give you company, why else?' she said thoroughly annoyed. I knew that she badly wanted to go but I was so happy that I didn't try to dissuade her. I merely asked her 'Seriously?' She nodded and continued watching TV.

'Where were you after the bus stopped?' she called out once I got into the room to change. 'I couldn't find you or Cheyen anywhere, so I...' I trailed off sure that she'll figure out the rest. Actually I hadn't had bothered to look for them. I just wanted some solitude to ponder upon the trip and the theme of what Chang said today. I was again knit up in my thoughts about magic and stone-men, when Yui came into my room. She had a strange smile on her face. 'Cheyen said that the much-awaited arrival' she cleared her throat importantly and continued, 'of Guoen's pen pal is coming this term to join here.' 'You mean...?' she nodded. 'But, he'll need a while to catch up, wouldn't he, I mean...' I asked. Yui shook her head impatiently. Then it clicked, 'How's Cheyen?' 'Well, jealous, as he always was, ever since she started talking of their long-online chats,' she said looking a bit tired. 'But why? She made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with Cheyen anymore in their high school days, right?' I don't have first hand information about this love-affair since I'm met these two exactly 2 and a half months ago but Yui had told me so much of it that I felt I was there when Cheyen and Chel Guoen broke up.

Cheyen and Guoen were friends ever since junior classes. When they reached their teens they decided to be more than friends. Later Guoen attended a family meeting where she met a really distant relative of hers, a woman, whose name no one was able to supply me with. She had a son who was a depressed type person, but awfully good-looking. They became friends and his mother realized that a girl-pal would be a nice change. They mailed each other and occasionally met during holidays and when Guoen was allowed a laptop of her own, they chatted and emailed each other. Of course she was good enough to tell all this to Cheyen, but he says it's because of him that they grew apart. Finally in the second last year of senior high they broke up but continued to be friends. When the last year came, she became one of the popular-people groups, against whom Cheyen and Yui were working then. However Cheyen objected to it, Guoen never listened and finally she said something awful to him, which, Yui herself doesn't know, and they separated forever.

It was a ridiculous love story and Yui said that she had witnessed no genuine attachment between them. But it's quite obvious that Cheyen is still crazy about her. Well any guy would be, she is a terrific-looking girl. She is quite tall, slim with long legs and clothes, which conveniently showed off her legs. But what capture the attention of most is her hair and the peculiar manner in which it lies even after continuous class hours. But what I could never understand is the enmity between Yui and Guoen. They weren't friends even when Cheyen were their mutual friend. I used to think they were jealous, but face it, Guoen never seemed to be crazy about Cheyen anyway. Yui's stand was that she was as terrible to fellow human beings as she is now to me (she's horrible to me) but Cheyen says that she was a wonderful person, who never hurts a fly (I think he's exaggerating though) and everything is because of the guy whom we're all going to meet real soon.

What Yui was worried about now was that she'd have to put up with all her descriptions about the handsome new boyfriend. However the 'cool-group' tries to avoid me, they can never totally leave Yui and Cheyen out. Let's consider Yui for instance, she's cool, beautiful, talented, smart, and is even in the college soccer team. But she had the old rebel spirit, which simply refused to accept posh community to which Guoen belongs. It had gone well for me though - she is apparently attracted to losers. Cheyen is also very similar - he's the director of the college sports club, a position, which is usually given only to third years or above, and he's also in basketball team. I don't know how Guoen's new boyfriend looks like, but in my eyes, Cheyen is terrific-looking. Cheyen was kind of happy ever since he became the director, since Guoen had suddenly remembered how nice it was to be in his company back in high school. Of course things're going to change.

After two uneventful weeks, during which I had to endure consistent groans from Yui, saying that it's my fault that she's still in the college, the classes finally began. I always look forward for the classes to start, it's not that I love to study; it's the time I get to be with friends. For the past 6 years every holiday except the summer, I was forced to stay in the boarding house to whichever institution I attended then. The last two weeks of this holiday alone did I get to be with someone I like. Yui knew very well about this and that's why she volunteered. After the tour I hadn't had seen Cheyen and when I saw him in my first class, I noticed a distinct change not only in his attitude but also his appearance. It then occured to me that, whatever Yui says, Guoen does have a very dear place in his heart.

He gave a very weary 'Hi' when he came to meet Yui and me during lunch hour. 'Caught your beauty with the beast?' Yui asked in a most nasty manner; she was always mean to him as far as Guoen was concerned. He didn't answer, he merely looked. 'So, he came?' I asked rather cautiously. 'No, it's either tomorrow or... I don't know why you asked that question, Sakura!' he said looking furious. 'Surely he doesn't care?!' Yui retorted rolling her eyes. 'No, I don't and...' he looked around apparently lost for words. 'If you didn't care, how did you know whom she was talking of, when she asked whether he came?' Yui said and strangely she looked angry too. 'I shouldn't've come here,' he said and added as he was leaving, 'it's none of your business, anyway.' 'Why're you so mean to him?' I asked a bit scared seeing the angry expressions on both the faces. 'He's torturing himself for a girl, who's totally horrible to him and to the society. Someone has to bring him to a normal condition,' she said with the same terrifying look. I didn't bother to contradict her. I've heard her shout at him on phone in relation to the subject, whenever he called.

We were having a quiet lunch when we heard some loud noises from nearby bench. Chel Guoen was there with her friends - a group of boys and girls who were included under the title - popular and who were not Yui or Cheyen. A guy in that group, Tai Dee, one of the few humane people, has a major crush on Yui and have tried to ask her out a fair few times, but had become quite dry in throat when near her, so always unsuccessful. They were evidently discussing about Guoen's friend, since we heard the words fourteen, online and soo-cute in the same sentence. Many of the people around were friends from school so all knew quite well about Guoen and this guy. Yui, who is always trying to avoid them, seemed to be listening quite keenly. 'You eavesdropping?' I asked in a whisper. All I got was a 'shh'. I rushed through my lunch trying to shut my ears against all evils and got up. To my surprise, Yui too had managed to eat with the same speed as I together with eavesdropping. As we walked to the hall I asked, 'Any success in acquiring information?' She muttered something about me having to use normal language and replied, 'Yep, his name - Sayoran Li!' It was a strange name, yet I thought it was a nice name. Yui obviously didn't since she immediately commented as though reading my thoughts and contradicting, 'What a stupid name!' She didn't stop there, she continued to mutter, hardly audible except a few broken words like - Half-Japanese, love-recovery, blast her!

We had two hours continuously Coordinate Geometry after lunch and by the time recess came nobody seemed to be able to move or talk. I myself nearly fell off the chair three times during the class. Someone was singing a lullaby by substituting some cute words with perverse ones. Only person who seemed interested in talking was Guoen and that too to Yui. I, with all the tiredness, strained my ears and edged a little closer to the seat. I generally don't appreciate overhearing, but let's just say my curiosity got the better of me this time.

I didn't get the introductory remarks. First word I heard was tomorrow. I could only too well guess what came before. Yui didn't look as interested as she was during lunchtime. It's either the lunch or that now Guoen knows she is listening. Yui always said that Guoen came to talk to her out of mere irritation. But I knew why she did that. She wanted to lure her into her gang ever since I've been to college. From what I've heard, she wasn't too nice to Yui in school. Yui is now way too precious. She is a girl with stunning good looks, great studying capacity, good in sports and only factor, which irritates Guoen is her being friends with me. It was a phenomenon, which no one could understand. Partly that way why I was always interested in their conversations, I always felt that Guoen is trying to steal my best friend from me.

I could only hear snatches of their conversation. I would've been able to hear the whole thing, but then it'd be too obvious. I heard his name told twice - Sayoran - which I thought was a great name. And besides that how he always wanted to study somewhere close to her and he's ecstatic now that his wish had come true. She continued saying how she had cured him of the depression, which hung over him after he lost a dear friend, 'I think the poor kid drowned' she said. Then he lost something, which I couldn't catch properly. Thankfully, as my neck was hurting due to the craning, the teacher for our next class, Differential Calculus, walked in.

I bombarded Yui with questions regarding the great-name-guy once we were in the room. Strangely Yui didn't seem to have the interest she had during lunch. Maybe she doesn't like to be told, she may like to learn things by overhearing. Still I got some information from her. All her answers began with Guoen said... He, though half-Japanese, knows all languages besides Japanese, is cute, had a great friend when he was very small, whose death almost drove him crazy. He never talks of that friend, since, oh then Guoen remembers, he doesn't remember much, presumably due to treatment for his mental depression. 'Basically,' Yui added, 'She doesn't know much about him.'

That night Cheyen came and it was marvelous how these two can interact normally after a fight. It's not once or twice, but I've witnessed it many times before. After he described his trouble with two new kids who wanted to join their team, we soon got into the subject of Guoen. I was prepared for the worst, but I was in for a surprise. Yui was soft towards him and he naturally appreciated it, though looked at her as though she had flipped. He finally said that it hadn't had affected him as much as he thought it would, but I wasn't totally convinced.

Either he was hiding from others or he didn't attend the classes, but we got to see this special guy only during the second recess. Yui, Cheyen and I were walking towards the sports club office to see Cheyen's photo among all the honorary members who ever got involved with the club. Cheyen was in an elevated mood because of this and we knew neither Guoen nor Sayoran was in his head then. It was a sad change when both together with a few of their gang appeared in front of us.

It's not possible for me to describe what I felt when I saw him. He was one of the best looking guys I've ever looked upon at. But that's that. It was something else. I'd a strange sensation, it's so hard to describe, I was kind of happy but sad and extremely anxious; for what, I'll never know. Due to my short stature, it's quite probable that he didn't see me at first. Only when Yui moved out of the way, he saw me. It seemed to me that he was a bit shocked. He stared at me hard into my eyes that I soon found myself sweating. He looked away only when Guoen pulled at him and introduced Yui to him. Yui was practically exuding with annoyance. She said 'hi' to him quite cordially. 'She's in our girls' soccer team,' she said; it was too obvious that she wanted Yui to be pleased.

'And this is,' she said pulling Sayoran towards Cheyen, 'Cheyen Ono.' She said with a sly, smirking smile. He stared at both of them but not with a pathetic expression of a betrayed boyfriend, I observed with delight, but with 'I've got better things to do' manner. He was busy then anyway, he said something, which might have been 'hi' and then said quite cheerfully to us, 'see you guys at lunch,' and sped off to the office. Guoen didn't look too pleased at this. 'We have exactly 8 more minutes for the next class to start, I've to take you to so many more places,' she said in the sweetest of voices and dragged him away.

Back at the class I kept thinking about Sayoran that it took me a few seconds to realize that Yui was talking to me. 'How rude!' she said practically fuming with anger, 'She didn't bother to introduce you!' Strangely that had occurred to me only then. But what's new? 'Why should she do that anyway?' I asked quite frankly. 'Because,' she said vehemently, 'because, you're a human being who happened to be there!' I gave her a cut the crap gesture and almost drifted into the dream world, when she again spoke, this time in a malicious hiss, 'And was that guy worth it? He's so vindictive!' This time I didn't feel like letting it pass. 'Why do you say that? He didn't even talk to you!' 'You can know such things, Sakura - either he's rude or our Chel Guoen hadn't been able to totally eradicate mental depression out of him!' she said.

I didn't feel that was fair, but there was no use arguing if your opponent is Yui. 'And,' she said again in her hissing and spitting tone, 'Why did she have to give an elaborate detail of my life - what I do, where I live...!' 'You haven't had figured out that yet?' I asked, feeling happy that I had managed to see something she had obviously missed. 'What do you mean?' she said leaving the angry voice. 'She takes you to be her rival. She's this perfect girl and you're another perfect girl. She had interest in many guys, most of them who had something for you - take for instance Tai Dee!' I said enjoying every minute of it. She shook her head impatiently and opened her mouth to retort. But I began again, as I knew I'll never get a chance again, 'And she wants you to know that now she's a bit more perfect as she's having this gorgeous guy, who's not affected by you (she must be quite confident in his faithfulness!). She just wants you to know that;' I added quickly, 'and besides, she never totally hated you ever since college days!' Yui looked away. She needed time to ponder upon it.

After the class, I discovered that this wasn't what she was pondering upon. She smiled at me mischievously and asked in a low teasing voice, 'So, you think he's gorgeous?' How did I get into a fix all the time? I was hoping to make fun of her and now the ball is in her court. 'That's the general opinion, isn't it?' I said trying to sound casual and offhand, but I could feel myself blushing. 'I didn't feel anything! Of course I could see he was good looking but I wasn't affected enough to comment upon it,' she said looking terrible smug. 'Look, I was just making a comparative study, whereby...' I started trying to look at least remotely smug, but she interrupted, 'Trying to confuse me with complicated language again, Sakura?' I kept quite. My precise way of speaking was always of great annoyance to her. 'Leave that, Sakura,' she said as we approached sport club office, where she had to meet the soccer team coach, 'You kind of reacted in a strange way when you saw him.' She looked very serious. Was my expression that obvious?

'You're imagining then,' I said hoping that I wasn't blushing. 'Well, you'll have to go by yourself today, I've got some practice,' she said as the coach came. She waved and went with the coach to the grounds leaving a very confused me. I walked back home having similar thoughts on my mind. She looked kind of serious when she said what she said. Did I look stupid or as though drooling over that guy? I obviously have no possible feelings towards him - for God's sake, I met him only a while ago. Then why again did I feel so queer when he came by?

I was feeling awfully tired by 7 'o' clock at night. I couldn't concentrate on my assignment and whenever I caught myself awake, I was thinking about either Sayoran or what Yui had said. I decided to go to bed early. I changed into my pajamas and crawled underneath my sheets and said good night to Kero, who was sitting on top of my bed. Kero is a stuffed toy, presumably a teddy bear, whom I remember having with me, ever since I was a small child. Since I can't remember my childhood, I don't really remember how I got him. I used to talk to him regularly until I became Yui's roommate, since, that practical-freak, hated me doing that. She was one unimaginative kid. But she does have great grasping power - I thought dully before going into a deep sleep.

Though I slept soundly that night, so soundly that I didn't hear Yui come in, my sleep was interrupted by a strange dream. A really tall guy, with his long hair in a ponytail, with specs was standing in front of me. He was smiling pleasantly at me. He was dressed in an elegant black cloak with subtle blue embroidery. He slowly came towards me and bent a bit to reach my shoulders. And he said in a low voice, 'the time will come soon'. I was puzzled and I realized that I wasn't alone. Just beside me, on whose shoulder rested the other hand of the tall man, was a puzzled-looking Sayoran Li.

I woke up shortly after. I was no longer feeling sleepy. I looked at my alarm clock, which was set to ring at 6 'o' clock, whose luminous hands, showed that it was only 4:05. I got to my feet and went to the toilet. I stared at my reflection on the mirror and talked to myself in my head. Was I that knit up by him to see him in my dreams the first day he had arrived? Am I obsessed with him? I can't have, I met him only today, no yesterday. I tried to justify my feelings by saying that it was his oddity and not his person, which is having such a tremendous effect on me. He was strange and that's all… but now...! It sounded highly improbable in my head; leave alone in Yui's ears.

For I had this habit of telling her everything that's happening in my life. It was due to lack of other company, mainly, but Yui meant a lot to me and her reaction also meant an equal lot. But she'll make fun of me in this situation. Come on, I said to myself, you have to learn to keep things from her, for she evidently doesn't keep you for her confidante. That was so true that it hurt. There have been many new things in her life, it's quite evident from her attitude of late, though I'm not as good a character-judge as she is, and she never speaks anything out of the ordinary. It's always the same things - how her practice was, how she was told of by a certain-professor, how Cheyen is angry with her, etcetera, etcetera...

With my mind made up, I went back to the bedroom and decided to finish off my assignment, though the deadline was two weeks later. The light in the room was already on and I found Yui sitting up on her bed. 'Couldn't sleep!' she said with a wide yawn. I was wondering, if it was a question or a fact, but I knew it would be the latter, since she had sleeping-problems. 'Why not?' I asked, I myself sensed a coldness in my voice (I had suddenly become quite angry). She sensed it, of course, since she looked at me in a reproachful manner. I became deliberately soft and settled down beside her and asked, 'Wasn't the practice enough to tire you out?' 'Nah!' she said and I noticed that she did look a lot tired. I suddenly felt a surge of sympathy within me. She was a bit insomniac and of late, she had become terribly sleepless. 'I can't sleep, Sakura, I just can't!' she said. 'But you seemed to be when I woke up,' I said. 'Yeah, but it was a transient sort of thing. I was half-asleep then,' she looked even more tired. 'Did I wake you up?' that was the last thing I'd like to have done. 'No, no. I'd have woken up anyway,' she said. I knew just the thing to cheer her up - my dream.

She was good enough to listen the whole thing without making any unwelcome comments upon it. But the moment I was done, she began - 'I knew it, you have a crush on him.' That sounded really freaky. 'You think so?' I asked trying not to get testy. She smiled at me the way a mother would to her mischievous child. 'Yeah, Sakura has her first crush!' she said trying to look proud. 'Who was the other guy, again?' she asked. 'I don't know...' I said wondering if it was some guy I'd seen before. Then it occurred to me that I forgot to mention what he had said to us. 'What did he say to you?' she asked, her eyes gleaming with interest and curiosity. 'The time will come soon,' I said. She closed her eyes, as though deep in meditation and said, 'So, it's what I feared it to be.' 'What?' I asked. She opened her eyes and stared at me for a while before saying, 'You're nuts and obsessed not only with Sayoran Li but also with magic-stuff. You shouldn't have gone for that stone thing.' I knew that she was joking, but I felt terrible at those words. She looked sharply at me and said, 'You don't take it seriously, do you?' 'No,' I said with a deliberate calmness, 'I merely narrated, since I'm in the habit of saying everything that's happened in my life to my friend.' I also added, 'Unlike some others.'

We didn't speak much, and I was aware that I made her see that she doesn't say much about her life to me. I did feel quite satisfied, but also I felt terrible in hurting her. She had too much problems - lack of rest, too much obligations in form of studies and co-curricular activities. I put on the table lamp on my desk and started reading the book I had taken from the library for the purpose. I was about Commercial Arithmetic and there can't be a more boring subject in this world. I had already prepared the introduction. I looked through the list of subtopics. First one was 'Earliest Applications'. Suddenly I had an image of someone chipping entries into debit and credit columns engraved in a giant slab of marble. Yui has a point, I thought, as I went through the index.

I had apparently fallen asleep midway and woke up when the alarm sounded. It was six and I found myself with face plastered against the book – to be exact on page no. 196. I got up and noticed that Yui was fast asleep regarding my uncompromising alarm clock. I stopped it and closed the book and decided to wash up. When I returned Yui was still sleeping. I wished her well and went to the restroom. It was empty if you count out Lisa who was sleeping on the couch, evidently an effort to complete her assignment. I went up slowly and looked at the book she was referring - it was too high for my standards. She also had a lab manual beside her. I thought why she needed it, since our practical was not to start in the near future.

I found the statistics notebook, which belonged to me, which I had forgotten to take back. I tried to study, but the images of Sayoran and that long-haired guy from my dream kept disturbing me. I knew it was stupid, but nevertheless, I couldn't help it. I wondered if Yui'd be mad at me, when she wakes up. I had a right to be mad, I tried to justify myself. Yet all these were making a mess of my head that I let out a little scream and brought the note really close to my face and tried to make myself study, merely to make my mind busy. This woke Lisa. She gave me a contemptuous look (she doesn't belong to Guoen's group though) and walked into her room with her stuff.

Next few days in class, I saw Sayoran all the time and all those times I experienced that inexplicably queer feeling. And all those times I had to bear with Yui's taunts. Yui also wasn't having a nice time, since Guoen brought him to her all the time as though it's a great honor. I happened to be with Yui many of those times so I noticed that he wasn't too happy with that either. He smiled rather awkwardly and excused himself away if Guoen held him there any more that 5 minutes.

We weren't the only people who really didn't appreciate his coming. Most of Guoen's girlfriends weren't too happy either. They didn't say anything to her, obviously. But it was evident that they all took immense interest in this guy and Guoen sort of was always there. How nasty of her! And then there is poor Cheyen. He seemed to have been recovering, but somebody tore off his photo from the board and the authorities said that they'd have to investigate before they stuck a new photo there.

The most terrible incident, which had occurred that week, was the introduction to practicals. We only had to deal with Physics. That explains why Lisa was reading the lab manual; she must've known it beforehand. Our lab partners were selected and unfortunately it wasn't according to the alphabetical order of names. I'm really fond of neither Jin Konto nor Shine Kyle, but I thought them to be angels when I knew who my partner was - Chel Guoen. I wasn't the only one who was disappointed. Guoen too didn't seem to be happy. Apparently she had hoped that she'd get Sayoran Li. Yui got Sayoran Li. Though I didn't think that it's awful, Yui obviously was really angry.

'Of course, Guoen came up to me and gave a horrible speech regarding how disappointed she is and how that and how this! And apparently she thinks that I have a crush on him!' she said seething with anger. 'You? Why does she think like that?' I said trying not to laugh, because Yui was looking more than just murderous then.' I don't know. Midway she just said that many others'd like to be his partner and she just asked casually: come on, wouldn't you be glad that he's your partner?' Yui was still fuming. 'Wait a minute, you are his partner!' I interjected. She smiled a bit maliciously and said, 'She didn't know it then.' 'And you told her...' I asked though I knew Yui would be only happy to make it sound as horrible as possible. 'That she needn't worry about anything since I'm his partner!' she said looking jubilant.

After that she was in a nice mood - nice enough to sympathize with me for having, to quote her, 'that thing' for a lab partner. Well, I did deserve all the sympathy she gave me, for all Tuesdays and Fridays proved to be utter horror to me in the future. Those were the days we had Physics practical. I remember coming home so depressed that I forgot to ask how Yui's partner proved to be. Yes, for ages, I was in no mood to do anything. Maybe due to my experience that day or the day before or because of the dread of what I was to face the next day or day after that. One might feel that I'm exaggerating. My pride doesn't make me list everything Guoen said to me and to the supervising professors.

Something, which I gathered in our, what 4th class together was that, evidently she had understood my problem with Sayoran. She too took it to be a crush, but in a way totally different from how Yui took it to be. She scorned me and went to the extent of saying that a person like me has no right to keep any hope as to have the attention of a guy like Sayoran. It hurt me, but I didn't show her that. Actually, I managed to make it show that I am unaffected by her comments and everything until that one day came.

Many of our Professors absented themselves that day except a few. So only those batches having professors were made to do the practical. Our professor, Mr. Len was also absent. But he managed to keep a substitute - a student doing his major in Physics in the same college. He was an amiable-looking guy in his twenties. He introduced himself; he was Yukito Tsukishiro and said that we needn't be too disciplined that day. All of us obviously liked that guy. He kept his word and rarely visited us that 3-hour period.

One thing about Guoen was that she was quite hard working. So, when I thought of taking this opportunity to meet with my friends, who were free, she insisted that we remain and do our work. 'You obviously don't care, but,' she added in a superior sort of tone, 'I do appreciate if I'm further in our experiments than others are!' She meant what she said, since she rarely gives me an opportunity to take the reading. The few times I had, it was because she got bored.

Anyway, she needed help that day and we did it together quite cordially and I thought finally we're bonding. But this first-nice-lab of mine ended in disaster when Sayoran came in. Of course his professor wasn't present then. Suddenly Guoen lost interest in her work. He came in quite furtively and said 'hey' in a secretive manner. I immediately looked at the experiment, and kept my face as much concealed from him as possible as I knew my face wouldn't be the normal color then.

More than just being embarrassed in front of a good-looking person, I felt a pain deep inside me. It must be due to Guoen's presence. I wanted to get away and I knew a perfect plan. I could pretend that I realized it only then that if Li was free that means Yui is also free. And that I'll hang out with her for a while and well, what comes to my mind then. When I got up from this reverie I could hear some strange sound. Not wanting to think what it could be I decided to make my presence known. I don't exactly remember what sound I made but whatever it was I caught Guoen's attention.

'What're you doing there?' Guoen asked in an amused manner. Something was pounding against my ears when I heard her and I looked up at her. I tried to smile and say all that I had well rehearsed in my head. I'd have succeeded had not my gaze wandered to look at Sayoran. I was momentarily frozen, for he was standing really close to me. I really don't think how I reacted, but I think I gaped at him for several minutes. I don't remember his expression either. My mind churned and twisted with his face in the centre. All the same my mouth was trying its level best to say what I had planned. It didn't come out and after a few minutes of staring I realized how embarrassing I must have appeared then.

All I managed was, 'I'll be going,' and I walked around the table to reach the door when Guoen called out, 'You going? Don't want to hang around with your dream man?' All the while I hadn't had heard him breath one word. Stupid of me, I turned around. I think I wanted to see him again. Sayoran momentarily broke his gaze to stare at Guoen puzzled. 'Sayoran,' she said still looking at me, 'It slipped my mind to tell you that someone here has... Well, I guess it'd have spoiled the scene if I had told you.' My gaze wasn't steady and may be my eyes were playing tricks at me; I thought I saw a vague grin upon his handsome face.

Of course I didn't stay there any longer. Since we had only one theory class more that day I directly went to my room and feeling disgusted at myself I started screaming. I called my image on the mirror all bad words I knew and I could invent. More than anger, embarrassment or grief, what I felt was some sort of a disappointment. All the time I was screaming I kept thinking, how could he let her say all those horrible things without saying anything? And, I wasn't sure of this one, he smirked. Then I asked myself, why shouldn't he? Anyone would, right? Somehow, I had hoped that he would react in a different manner.

I soon got tired of all this and fell on my bed and was soon asleep. I woke up, after one and a half hours, when I heard the door open. When I had my first wisp of consciousness, I said to myself, Yui needn't know about this. I got up, stretched convincingly in front of Yui, who was unpacking her stuff. 'I didn't feel like staying much longer after the lab,' I said to Yui who had her back turned to me. She suddenly turned to face me and said quite loudly, 'For God's sake, Sakura, Li and I do lab together!' I took a while to penetrate properly.

I took a while to penetrate properly. After a while I said with all the coolness I could muster, 'Big deal, you found out!' 'Yes, Sakura,' she said in her usual hiss-and-spit tone, 'it's a big deal and I'll make her see it!' It was so awkward a situation that we didn't speak for a while, if you count out the occasional grunts emanating from her mouth. 'How did you find out?' I asked after a while. 'I told you, Li told me!' she said. 'He tells such stuff to you?' I asked getting an awful picture of him laughing while describing how stupid I looked then. 'He said he wanted to tell her off before she could do any damage, but it occurred to him later and he wanted to apologize to you!' she again started another round of calling her names, while I interjected and asked, 'Are you sure?' 'Yeah. Why? Did he also...?' she asked furiously. 'No, of course not!' I said. So he's sorry and I'd have felt better if he'd apologized then. 'Of course I gave him a piece of my mind for not doing anything!' she said again.

'So, you're in good terms with him now,' I asked both out of curiosity and for the dire necessity of a subject-change. Her face broke into a smile and she nodded, 'I wanted to tell you that, but you've been preoccupied with... with your problem.' 'So, how's he? As you had expected, a snob?' I asked. 'He's ok! He's awfully shy and extremely introvert!' she said, 'I'm trying my level best to squash those characteristics out of him!' 'Good,' I said uncertain of what to say. 'I think he's sticking with Guoen because he's scared of her,' she said looking as though she meant it, 'And, I forgot, it's true what she proclaims of all the depression thing and stuff. She helped a lot apparently!' I couldn't imagine how a person as vindictive as Guoen could do anything to improve the state of mind of a young teenager. Of course, he is good looking, that justified her actions.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: THE DANCE**

I was so reluctant to go for class the next day that I discovered that I was sick. Though Yui, who cancelled an extra class for this occasion, would not hear of it. I did feel a bit sick thinking of what Guoen would say or how she'd react and more than that there was this horrible feeling of the way Li would react. My head had started calling him Li after I heard a whole night's soliloquy regarding Li. First person I saw in the campus was Li. I tried to concentrate on his left ear so that it'll give him the impression that I'm looking at him, when I'm not.

He gave a roundabout apology regarding both of their conduct the day before. I was so caught up that I don't remember his exact words. Even in the middle of all this, I was sort of reveling on the fact that this was our first official 'conversation'. My response was something like this: 'Huhh!' This might have meant go away since that's what he did soon after I said it. Next I saw Cheyen, who looked worn out, he hadn't had slept all night for some overnight meeting of a stupid association, he'd recently joined. He gave me the impression that he knew what had happened. Yui wasn't exactly a blabbermouth and besides Yui had gone straight to Biophysics lab, to get her record.

I went direct with him and asked why he was behaving like this. 'Like what?' he asked trying to look as innocent as a tall, well-built 19-year-old boy can possible do. I might have looked exasperated that he said that he met with Guoen near the boy's dorm. I stared at him. That girl never says anything nice to him, only things that hurt him or the ones he's related with. 'What did she say, exactly?' I asked. 'I don't know the whole thing, only that you must be upset...' he started. 'What did she say?' I asked pronouncing each word distinctly. 'That it was funny to see you go red, jealous and loser as you are, when you were together in the lab...' I didn't need to hear any further. I turned and walked away.

Of course, he followed me and said sorry many times. He didn't have to, it was my fault. Yui came soon after with a large brown book and seeing my expression she knew something was wrong. I told her and she shooed him off and said she need to walk with me. 'What's wrong with me?' I asked when we were well outside the hearing distance of all human beings. 'There's nothing wrong with you,' she said. 'I can't look at him without feeling... funny!' I said after I narrated how I met with him in the morning. 'You just have something for this guy,' she said avoiding my gaze, 'It's not abnormal, you know!' I finally brought myself to think that Yui is right; I have a crush on this guy.

Thankfully, I didn't meet Guoen the whole day nor the next few days until the next Tuesday, when we had an early practical. Our professor was absent so Mr. Tsukishiro was still our supervisor and so I dreaded her trying to make a fool out of me again. But that day, Mr. Tsukishiro was particularly interested in our table. He hung around asking us questions pertaining to our theory classes and also told us that for a while Mr. Len wouldn't show up and even after he shows up, Tsukishiro and many of his class-mates would be visiting us now and then for theory classes. Guoen wasn't too happy that he was sticking around, but it certainly helped me.

When the clock struck 4, I hurried out of the class, not bothering to look if the class was dismissed by any of the supervising professors. I was followed closely by Guoen and finally she managed to corner me near our lockers. 'So, I didn't get to chat this day,' she said looking more malicious than ever, 'I thought that since you were interested in Sayoran, you'll try and steal him. But again, I forgot, who I was dealing with,' 'I feel so sorry for you. To be so terribly in love with a cute guy and not having the minimum qualification to ask a guy out!' She turned her back at me and walked away.

This was almost like a routine for the next two weeks that I began to ignore it quite effectively. But I failed in not getting hurt, whenever Sayoran was nearby. But he pulled Guoen away, whenever I was around. I knew that Yui had an important role in this. I appreciated both of them for this. New complications and extra taunting arose, when a dance came up. It was conducted by the Sports Club in our own Gym. Our Gym is very huge and it can easily accommodate more than 500 quite comfortably. This also means that Cheyen gets to be real busy. He was authorizing it as he's the only representative from the first year and mainly the first and the second years where the ones who were invited.

Every now and then Guoen would speak loudly as though asking her friends that need she worry of losing her date as someone special is planning to ask him out. It was really embarrassing as most of the people now knew and believe what she thinks about Sayoran and me. In her group there were many boys who had genuine interest in Yui. One of them, Tai Dee, accompanied by Tetsuya Benz came up to us during lunch. I saw Guoen gaping at the scene from a table quite nearby. Tai Dee was a tall and thin boy, the only one who has ever smiled at me in her group. He has a dreamy look about him, which, Yui says, indicates his improper judgment and as a whole, he looked a bit ethereal. Benz was awfully cute and quite popular and he had this intense way of looking at people that make even boys feel a bit self-conscious.

Presently they were standing near us. Benz prodded Dee with his elbow and finally, he managed to ask Yui if she was free for the dance. With an expression of utmost indifference she asked, 'Yeah?' 'Want to go with me?' he asked, his pale face turning paler than ever. 'Why not!' she was and kept staring at Benz. It wasn't due to interest; it was mere curiosity as to what he was doing there. 'You're not going with Li, are you, Sakura?' Benz asked me quite abruptly. I was dumbstruck in being asked this and said, 'No. Why?' He gestured to Guoen and said, 'She said that... Never mind. Are you free for the dance?' Again I was at a loss for words. Was this guy asking me out? Is he ill? 'Yes, why?' He laughed and said, 'To ask you out, naturally!' I was suddenly aware of Guoen gaping wide at us.

I guess I remained silent for an awfully lot of time for he asked, 'And you're going?' I could feel strange sounds from my abdomen and from Yui's mouth. 'Yeah, sure!' I finally managed to say. He bend his neck and grinned and looked down for a second and said, 'All right, then! See you two later. Come, Tai,' he practically dragged away Dee, who was looking at Yui hopefully thinking that he might get her attention finally. Yui was in a state of hysteria once they left. 'Oh, it's so wonderful! Benz asked you out and did you...' she strained thinking of a better way to put it, 'See... her! She was gaping. Ah!' I knew why she was so ecstatic. Both Tai Dee and Tetsuya Benz were on the top of Guoen's guy-list until Li had come. They weren't so much interested in her though. But I always thought that Benz had it in for Yui. I guess I was wrong.

The whole day passed by like a dream. I wasn't aware of my existence and the only face I could see clearly was that of Yui as she was forcing herself on to my view. 'Great! Great!' she kept chanting. She wasn't remotely happy for herself. Though Dee was a dreamy-looking guy, Yui never appreciated him. She merely wanted to be with Cheyen and me that night. I was finally getting to go on a date. A real date, with a guy and all and that too one of the best. Suddenly it occurred to me; it's a plan, a plan to trick me! I said that to Yui, who dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand, 'Don't be ridiculous, Sakura,' she said, 'He isn't a bad thing as far as I know him and besides if he were ever to pull one on you that'd be on Guoen's request. You saw her face during lunch,' she again went on with the way her jaw dropped and the ape-like resemblance she bore then. This made me feel a bit better.

For the next few days, I caught myself several times staring simply at Benz. He was so handsome that I couldn't take my eyes off him. What which is stranger was that I didn't feel that much embarrassed when he caught my eye and grinned back at me. This had a positive effect on my problem with Li. I wasn't affected by him for a long time that I thought that I was finally over him. But things were a bit different whenever he was within a few feet near me. I again started getting all dazed and stuff.

Things were almost unrealistic for me once Tetsuya started coming to me and asked me how I was doing and generally talking of all the normal things. It was such a blissful experience. Before I knew I became too damn free with him. One day he asked me what I was planning to wear, 'It's only a week from the dance,' he said a bit slyly. It had occurred to me just then. 'I haven't decided,' I said frankly. 'It's high time you do that,' he said looking somewhat surprised. Suddenly his face broke into a grin and he asked me, 'Will you wear what I ask you to? I'm a bit particular that the girls I go with should be nicely dressed.' Violet Kajiwara, who was standing near us humphed quite loudly at this and walked away. He raised his eyebrows at this and asked, 'Well?'

'How are you aware of the dresses I own?' I asked. He looked taken aback at this usage and said, 'Good language,' He regained his sly look again and said, 'I've seen only one dress of yours and that'd taken my fancy.' 'Which one?' I asked wondering how he saw me in a fanciful dress, as I've never attended dance-parties. 'A peach-colored dress with the lace-thing going up the shoulder...' he gestured with his hand motioning over to the back of my shoulder. It wasn't hard figuring out which dress that was and how he came to find me in it. I made it, Yui had assisted me, and I did make a trip around the women's dorm wearing it, two months ago. He must have come to visit Guoen or Violet or somebody there. I also remembered it was something, which I'm not in the practice of wearing.

'You looked really good in that,' his voice brought me to the present situation. 'You sure you want me to wear that?' I asked trying to work up a smile when I was really terrified. Suddenly he moved a lot nearer to me and brought his face very close to mine and said in the sexiest of voices, 'You looked so good in that!' At the next moment onwards I kept thinking in this line: What's wrong with that dress, anyway? I said all that had happened to Yui. She reacted very strangely then. She suddenly sat down on her chair and supported her chin on her hand and sat the way Sherlock Homes must've done in front of a perplexed Watson. Then she jumped up, which startled me thoroughly and said, 'Wearing that dress would be an excellent idea, if Ferrari really meant it!' 'It's Benz!' I said through my clenched teeth and then added, quite confused, 'What do you mean, if he meant it?'

'The dress is good. Awfully good! But don't you think it's a bit skimpy?' she said and immediately added, 'Not that others would wear Kimonos,' Then she came closer and put her hands on my shoulders and said, 'You're thin and doesn't have a shocking figure, so you'll look good in that. So my opinion is: Wear it!' Even though my brain hadn't had worked out every theory she had put forth to me, I was glad she said what he had said. I remember her saying a few more comments, but I do not remember what they were.

Till the day of the dance, I couldn't concentrate at all in any thing I did. All the time I thought about Tetsuya and the way he looked at me asking me to wear that dress. The complication regarding the dress I'm to wear had disappeared from my mind. Even Li within a meter's distance didn't make me think of anything else. I think he himself noticed that since he mentioned to Yui that he's glad, I'm behaving normally. It seems he thought that I was having some sort of a mental problem and that's why I kept staring at him. I asked Yui, or rather pleaded with her not to correct this image.

It was only two days before the dance that I'd actually taken up the dress and tried it out. It still fitted me. But it was uncomfortably short. But as Yui had an occasion to point out, others wouldn't wear anything decent. It was a very pale color - a shade of orange and pink, more of pink though. When I picked out the cloth, the salesgirl gave a fantastic name for the color. I had used the cloth plus lace of a subtle pink color to make straps. These straps added to the skimpiness of my dress.

Finally I brought myself to believe that I do not look awkward in that. I needed help from Yui, naturally. The next problem was hair. My hair was in different levels, which is quite natural since I always cut my hair by myself. It was longer than what I'm comfortable with then, so I took my scissors and got ready to cut down. Yui started violently and asked me not to be a fool. 'It's easier to do your hair, when it's longer. So, leave it like that, we'll try something!' As I fussed throughout that evening in front of the mirror, holding my hair in different positions, I could hear, Yui, who was then trying to do her homework, chuckle.

'And what's that for?' I asked quite angrily, letting go of my hair, which fell around my shoulder in a way I detested. 'It's just,' she said still smiling, 'I never dreamt it possible to see you worried about the way you look. And here you are fussing about your hair, your dress...' Strangely, I felt that too. What has come over me? 'There's nothing wrong with that, you know,' she said as though she could read my thoughts, 'It's good to see you like this.' Then she added with the air of a spiritual leader, 'And we owe it all to the mighty Mercedes!' For about the hundredth time, I yelled, 'It's Benz!'

Yui borrowed some gel from Cheyen and tried to fool me by saying it's hair oil. I pretended to be fooled since my hair wouldn't yield to hair oils. Even the gel barely kept it in place that evening. I was so thrilled that I found myself hopping around, unable to contain myself. For my hair's sake, though, I had to sit down and listen to Yui's lecture as to how I should carry myself that day. I had my dress on by then and my hair was done, so we practically had a 'dress rehearsal'. As it was our college-gym, the couples were to arrive separately. I was so preoccupied with my problems that I noticed Yui's dress only then. It was a long dress, with a possible distant relation to ancient kimono. It was fudge brown and it had a sort-of-collar. It had two buttons – one to keep the neckline in place and other to hold one flap to the other part of the dress. There was a waist band and an extra skirt, which made the dress look like an overcoat, when it actually serves the purpose of a shirt.

'Where did you get so much clothes from?' I asked her half-joking. 'From Wung-Li's!' she said coolly. 'You got it stitched?' I asked somewhat surprised, as it looked like something designed by a genius. She seemed to know what I thought; she told, 'You're not the only one who is imaginative, you know!' She actually designed a beautiful dress! After looking at her dress and her short hair, which she's left undone, and her thin, elliptical metal frame specs, I realized that I'm going to look like a joke near her. She noticed my sad face and asked what was wrong. I had a feeling she knew what was wrong. But she asked me, 'Afraid that the length of our dresses would contradict each other?' It clicked to me only then. She was wearing a dress as long and elegant as my dress was short and skimpy.

I, thankfully, don't remember much of that evening, mainly because I was that nervous. I do remember certain points of it, which makes me utterly embarrassed on future days. There were many exclamations when people got to see me, naturally they didn't, in their wildest dreams, expect me to show up in a public party dressed up like that. I spotted Li standing near the counter talking to Violet. He smiled pleasantly at Yui and rather awkwardly at me. But Violet reacted strangely, she ran off trying her best to subdue her giggles. That was a bit ominous. 'She looks like some prehistoric bird dressed in a purple negligee!' Yui remarked after Violet had left. She wasn't wearing a negligee, but let me put it this way, a negligee would've looked much more decent. I looked around for Guoen, I was quite ready for her, but she was nowhere there. And for the first time in my life, I was able to chat normally with Li as I was naturally drawn into Yui's and Li's conversation.

Then came Guoen, Benz and Violet. My heart gave a leap, I am embarrassed to admit, when I saw Benz. The thing between us was well established in my heart that I naturally went towards him. But as I approached him I noticed Guoen. I don't know why I bothered to look at her. Maybe I wanted to see some trace of jealousy or something. But what I saw was so unnerving. She was smiling at me with an exultant expression. Many images flashed in my mind, which included me being embarrassed. I looked at Benz. He was smiling at me with a sad expression. Then it changed to a sort of an evil grin. It took me a few seconds to see thin arm of Violet entangled in his. Guoen approached me and said something so loudly that everyone around heard it and burst out laughing. A second later Benz and Violet had joined in the laughter. I was brought back to my senses when I felt something cold and wet on my chest.

Whatever Guoen was holding in her glass had been emptied on me. I don't know the exact chain of events that followed. I think I ran out of the scene, otherwise I wouldn't be in the girls' restroom after a minute. I sat on a bench, which is used for keeping towels and stuff and sat there not knowing what to do. More than the embarrassment, I kept thinking mainly of Benz. How could he do that to me? I was damn sure that he had really liked me. I stood up and walked to the mirror. The front of my pink dress was drenched with a dark purple fluid and the cloth stuck to my skin. I had to run through so many people. I felt disgusted. Then I noticed that the color was too dark and unlikely for a drink. I touched it, the color spread to my finger. It was ink. She deliberately did this. It was a well-planned scheme to embarrass me!

Something, which I'd expected happened a few minutes later - someone knocked. I was sure it'd be Yui, so I said, 'Go away!' trying to sound not too depressed, merely irritated. Silence. She went? I didn't want her to go. Then I heard a deep voice say, 'You can't stay there forever you know?!' It was Li. A sudden hatred towards that boy surged in my head. He was in this, that's why he was so pleasant to me that evening. Without thinking I opened the door and once I was sure that it was Li who's standing outside, I caught hold of his collar and pulled him inside and locked the door from inside. He looked thoroughly shocked. Someone then tapped on the door. I ignored it and shouted at him using every bit of energy I could muster up. 'Does the Government pay people like you to be horrible to others?' I remember staring the session like this. He tried to interject and the tapping grew stronger, but I went on, trying to vent my feelings on hisses rather than shouts, as I didn't want the whole college to know.

Before I was done, Li said, 'Sakura!' I stopped. It sounded awfully familiar. The way I stopped took him by surprise. He said, 'Look, I have nothing to do with this. Yui mentioned that you'd think I had a part in it and I came to say I didn't and that I'm sorry on behalf of Chel.' I stood there staring at him for a while and thought how I could have suspected him. But what I said was, 'Why should I believe you?' 'Why should I do this?' he asked back. 'For the same reason why Guoen, Benz and the others did it!' I retorted. 'Benz is a jerk. I can't believe you fell for him,' he said. He was talking as though he knew me for ages. I sat down again and plainly asked him to get out. He laughed and said that he will if I promise to join the rest in the party. 'With this?' I asked him. 'The material doesn't seem difficult to be dried. Yui can help you clean it, you know...' he said. No way I am going to do that, I wanted to tell. But I didn't. I actually really appreciated what he said. I asked, 'Where's Yui?' 'She's the one knocking,' Li said. They must've planned this. I let Yui in and Li disappeared. Yui looked scared. She rarely looks scared that I felt a bit scared myself. 'You're strong!' she said obviously alluding to the time when I pulled Li in. I laughed and asked her how this can be cleaned. If it was a well-planned thing, Yui's a good actor. She was surprised at the idea and looked doubtful. After staring at my chest for half a minute she said, 'Take it off.'

She did the entire cleaning. I'm a shy person; though I had my undergarments on, I hid in one of the toilets. I don't know how she managed it but finally she asked me to come out and wear it. Not only was it apparently clean but also was remarkably dry. She pointed to a hand drier hung in the corner. I looked at my image on the mirror. There was a slight outline of the stain on my chest. Praying that it should pass for a pattern, we got out into the noise of the gym. Thankfully no one took much notice of my return. Only then I realized that no one would have missed me much either. I met Li soon and was thoroughly embarrassed but didn't' show it. I still pretended to be angry at him and he seemed a bit hurt.

As much contented I was with staying where I was, Yui and Li insisted I got to the centre and show Benz that a date isn't required. That sounded so stupid that I asked, 'This is a dance-party, of course a date is important!' 'Not if someone else is ready to dance with you,' Li said in a small voice. Before he can have a chance to ask me, I asked for Cheyen. He wasn't to be seen anywhere. 'As a matter of fact I haven't seen him at all during the dance!' Yui said. Even in my lack of enthusiasm, I soon found myself the centre of attention as Guoen and her gang started victimizing me once again. It was like being cornered by a monster. She looked really pretty, not at all like you'd expect a monster to look like but nevertheless she had this evil glint one her dark eyes. 'You showed up?' she asked, looking half-surprised, half-amused. 'What do you want?' I asked, quite confident that Li'd interfere if something went wrong. 'You're so pathetic, Sakura!' she said and glided slowly to one side to reveal Benz.

Then something happened, which kind of saved my dignity. He was standing there trying to look evil but just couldn't manage it. I smiled at him as sweetly as possible and slowly trying to look as bold as I can, I walked towards him. He gulped at took one step back. 'Hello Benz, sorry I didn't get time to talk to you,' I said surprising myself. Somewhere from behind I heard an exasperated grunt, obviously made by Guoen. I can't do it, I can't do it. I kept thinking that I'd gone mad. My plan was to ask him to dance with me in such a manner that he can't refuse. It was ridiculous – he had just brushed me off. I saw Cheyen looking at the scene from far behind Benz. I started to move away when Benz spoke, 'Do you want to dance?'

That was strange. Very strange and a lot more awkward than strange. 'You want to dance with me?' I blurted out. Cheyen was standing a lot closer than before. I looked at Benz and this time a new possibility dawned to me. 'Why would I want to do that?' I said quite loudly and walked away as quickly as I can towards Cheyen. 'Save my dignity,' I said urgently. He smiled at me proudly before he dragged me to the dance floor, which was occupied by too many people for anyone to notice a particularly skinny girl in a stained dress dance with a popular guy.

The conscious part of my brain started to function only after a few minutes. By that time we were half way through a song and I was surprised to find myself doing quite fine, though the major work was being done by Cheyen. 'What happened?' he asked. 'Don't ask!' I said. 'I don't think it's going to be going to be a secret, though,' I said trying not to sound too upset. I looked at the others. Yui and Tai Dee were dancing quite exuberantly. I also saw Violet and Tetsuya dance. Everything about Violet was ungraceful. I think I said that aloud, since Cheyen said, 'Of course she's the most ungraceful thing I've ever seen.' I automatically asked, 'Why did he then prefer her over me?' And then felt embarrassed about it. 'He preferred? You dumped him, remember?' he said laughing. Yeah, I dumped him!

The rest of the night went uneventfully. For one, I didn't see Li again. Probably afraid that his 'healer' would be upset if she caught him talking to me. Cheyen accompanied us to our dorm. He didn't have a date as he was one of the organizers and so he got to hang around with me a lot. I was really thankful to him for that. But I don't think he heard it because he collapsed on the couch once we entered the common room. 'Don't worry, you can thank him tomorrow. Let him sleep. He's strained a bit too much,' Yui said as she led me into our room. 'He'll go once some girl comes and shoos him off!'


	3. Chapter 3

**chapter 3: YUI, CHEYEN AND THE MAN IN BLACK ROBES**

I couldn't sleep immediately, which is rather uncommon. I kept thinking about Tetsuya, and whether he meant it or not and related things. But was I really upset? No, I was kind of happy. I actually was happy. Suddenly Li's face came to my mind. He was very sweet to me that night and it was like he actually meant it. Thinking of Li, I pulled on my covers and slowly fell into a deep sleep. I had a dream that night. It was very strange. I was running along with Li, on the road, which took us to the children's park back in Tomoeda, my hometown. We have to hurry to reach in time. Hurry Sakura, he yelled at me. We went past the park and we arrived in front of a Cherry tree, which was in full blossom. But as we looked, the flowers fell down, and the leaves sprouted and after sometime, the leaves are gone. It was like time was passing in front of our eyes. Somebody stepped out from behind the tree. It was the same man I had seen in my other dream.

He called us by our names and asked us to hurry. He pointed to the cherry tree, which was again blossoming and said, 'Time doesn't wait for you.' I woke up soon after that. It was very disturbing and I wanted to tell this to someone. I was glad to see Yui was up. She was playing chess with herself. 'You're awake so soon, it's only 4!' she said. 'I had this dream, Yui,' and I explained everything. This time she didn't make fun of me. 'You think it mean something?' I asked. 'Maybe, you've seen this man somewhere before, and you're just dreaming about him,' she said. The only people of my past who're alive are my father, brother and my uncle and aunt. I haven't spoken to her about them mainly because my family affairs were an unpleasant mess. But I had told her I only vaguely recollected my childhood. 'Maybe, you're in the verge of remembering your past,' she said brightly. 'You think?' I asked, very much liking the sound of it. 'Yeah, maybe he is your uncle on your mom's side,' she said trying to think about my relations.

I couldn't sleep after that so, I played with Yui. We both are pretty good at chess and it went on for a long time until she fell asleep. It was nearly 5:30 then. I took a book, hoping to study but I was caught up in the dream. I had this habit of talking to myself ever since I can remember and I soon found me arguing with myself and analyzing the situation. Strangely as I looked up at Kero, I thought that he agrees with one of my viewpoints. So, I decided to talk to him. He was no more alive than a doormat, but yet, I imagined his beady black eyes gleaming as I talked. This went on, until I arrived at a conclusion that the man in my dream must be an uncle of mine and I made a mental note to go through the albums on my next visit to my uncle's.

But I hate visiting my uncle and aunt. They're nice to me as long as I do not insist upon seeing my brother. Toya, lives with them; not always, but mostly, especially weekends. He's having this strange health condition which prevents him from leading an independent life. But the strangest of all things is that his illness worsens when I'm around. So for nearly three years now, I'm banned from going anywhere near him. My dad, though not around, is the main provider for my brother through my uncle. It seems that he has asked my uncle to prevent me from seeing Toya and since my dad's quite liberal in money-matters, uncle have taken this instruction to the heart.

The only things I've hidden from Yui are the strange things pertaining to my family - how my dad, who was very much in love with us, suddenly decided that he's not suited for a family life; that I have a brother who gets ill every time he's near me and how I still love Toya more than anything in my life even though I don't remember spending so much as a second with him. As I'd mentioned many times earlier, I do not remember almost anything of my childhood days and so naturally I just know that I used to live with dad and Toya. Mum died when I was very small. But yet, I remember a deep attachment for Toya. I know it's the same for him, regardless of what Uncle says. He says that Toya is practically disgusted with me, seeing my attempts to sabotage his now-normal-life and that he never liked me anyway and all sorts of horrible things.

The next day when I went to college, I was surprised to see some people, especially the rebel-boys, smiling warmly at me. It seems many thinks what I did, in the dance was kind of cool. None of the popular-batch thought so anyway, and so I had to endure sneers and all sorts of horrible comments from Guoen in the lab. Mr. Tsukishiro was still there. He seemed a bit depressed and was aloof. Once we got out of the lab, Guoen practically followed me and jeered me until Li showed up. Apparently she hadn't had known that it was mainly Li who was responsible for encouraging me back to the dance and that he's in ok terms with me now. 'Sayoran,' she said loudly and pulled him towards her and kissed him noisily on his mouth. She must've expected me to gasp in horror or something because when I said, 'Yech' seeing this, she stopped and looked at me cattily.

'Are you all right, Kinomoto?' she asked. 'Yes, I think I lost my appetite,' I said and turned to leave. As I left, I turned back and waved to Li, who smiled back at me. Feeling great, I went to the grounds to join Yui. I saw Cheyen there. 'Hey, Cheyen,' he seemed distracted. 'Sakura,' he said looking a bit shocked. For one moment, I thought there's a giant bug stuck on me. 'What's the matter, Cheyen?' I asked him. He looked pale. 'Nothing, I just thought I'll come by... you know, it's been so long since I saw these... these grounds,' he said looking around. 'You had your basketball practice two days ago,' I said, now smelling something fishy. 'Did I? Yes, you're absolutely right,' he laughed in a manic way and went away muttering a bye. After a while I saw Yui, looking completely wiped out. 'You'll have to... go... without me. More practice!' she said as she jogged away as soon as she came.

That night I was practically free. I had nothing to do. I put on something comfortable and looked at myself in the mirror - I saw a thin, short girl with gigantic grey-green eyes and a lot of untidy ash-brown hair. I can't help the eyes and my shape but I can definitely cut down my hair. I took my scissor, which had gone blunt, as I recently used it to cut cardboard paper. Somebody knocked. 'Come on in,' I said positioning my scissors so that a sharp cut would take off considerable hair. The door opened and as I was about to proceed with my work, somebody yelled from behind - 'No!' Snap. I had cut my fingers. Angry and in pain I turned to see Li, looking at me thoroughly upset.

'I am so sorry,' he said as he came towards me. I automatically positioned the scissors in front of me as though it was a gun, pointed towards the enemy - Li. He smiled at this and said sorry again. 'It's ok,' I said withdrawing the 'gun'. Since the scissors were not very sharp, it just damaged the skin and squashed my finger rather than cutting it. 'Why're you here?' I asked trying to sound rude and cool. 'I came to return a book I'd borrowed from Yui,' he said and added, 'when I saw you ill treating your hair!' Before I could say anything, he said, 'Don't, please.' 'Then let it grow barbarously?' I said checking my image once again. 'There's nothing wrong with it right now, but if you want to cut it, cut it decently,' he said, 'and not the way you were about to cut it!' Then all of a sudden he said, 'Let me.'

'What?' of all the things, he had to offer me a haircut. 'I know how to do that, and I'm not joking!' he said taking a step forwards. 'No,' I said, taking a step backwards. He came forwards until I had to sit down to stop him from bumping on me. He took the scissors and asked me to sit in front of the mirror. Praying that Yui won't come in to witness this, I obeyed him. He didn't speak a word while doing the job nor did he reply whenever I talked. He was completely concentrating on this hair cutting. He was very quick and he revolved around me making small adjustments here and there without causing much damage to the existing hair. It was a very awkward experience. Whenever he felt my hair or accidentally touched my skin, I felt really funny. And I bet he felt it too when he was doing something to my fringe. His face was very close to mine and I could smell him; there was something familiar about it. He looked at me in the eyes and raised his head. Then shrugged and resumed his work. After ten minutes of sitting, he said 'Done.'

Before I completely appreciated what he'd done, he was gone. He said he'd forgotten something. 'Thanks,' I called after him. He smiled 'Yeah.' I looked really good, my image in the mirror told me. He had cut my hair, the way (almost) I used to wear it when I was younger. A bunch of hair on either side was longer than the rest and the others sort of a crew cut. I was admiring his work by not taking my eyes of the mirror, when Yui came in. 'I saw Li go. Sorry I didn't tell you that he'd... what the!' That was when I turned. 'Wow, you're becoming quite good at it,' she said obviously thinking it's my handiwork. I laughed and told her that Li's responsible. She gaped at me for a while. I narrated to her what had happened which had ultimately led to him cutting my hair. After gaping at me for a few more seconds she seemed hysterical.

Only then I realized something. 'I am not sure if I was to tell you that,' I told her. 'What do you mean?' she asked me as her giggles subsided. 'You know, if he'd rather I kept it to myself.' 'Don't be ridiculous. You look great!' she told me making me a lot happier. Yet I had my doubts, so I made her promise not to tell anyone that he gave me a haircut. She agreed and said she had some work to do, so she's going to the common room. I remained where I was still thinking of the way I felt when he was around and the way I was sure he'd had felt when he was that close to me.

Something wonderful, in Yui's opinion, happened in the next week. I had my lab class with Guoen and she noticed my hairstyle and asked me which fool of a hairdresser I go to. I had earlier apologized to Li in having told Yui about the hair cut and he told me he didn't mind me telling anyone. So I loudly proclaimed to Guoen that it was her boyfriend who did this. She was so shocked at this that she at first, naturally, didn't believe me. To make sure she dragged me to Li and asked him in front of me. Totally unabashed he said 'Yes.' Guoen, who was already losing her patience at Li as he was treating me like a human being, couldn't stand this. She practically ran away. Li gave me a good-riddance-sort-of-look and said bye and left. Yui told me after two days that they'd broke up. She was happy about this because she said that Li deserves better. But I was still surprised that she'd lose a guy, who meant so much to her, just because he gave me, a non-entity for her till then, a haircut. I promptly started to feel guilty.

I went to Li the next day and apologized. 'Again for the hair cut?' he asked. 'No, for making you two break up!' 'If she thinks what I did was a grave offense, I'd rather not date her,' he said curtly and stalked off. That was not so terrible and deep inside me I thought that's the best ever happened to Li, but yet I was feeling terrible at this. I used to think that she can't get any worse in her behavior to me, but now she proved she can. The next week was more than unbearable. But somehow the thought that I have a larger friends circle now made me quite happy.

Something odd happened at that time. One day I walked into our dorm to find Yui crying bitterly and she refused to talk at first. After lots of prodding and persuasion she finally told me something, which I found quite unable to believe at first. Apparently she and Cheyen were more than just friends for the past few weeks (behind my back) and she said that those were the best days of her life. It seems she used to date him in their school days as well. Now that Guoen broke up with Li, she had come to Cheyen (again). 'I never thought he'd do that,' she said in between sobs. 'Do what?' I asked half-curious, half-anxious. She thought for a while before saying, 'To accept her again.' So he broke up with Yui when Guoen came back? 'No, she asked him. I saw her ask. In the corridor near the library,' she said. 'What did he say?' 'I don't know, I left,' she said wiping her face.

So she hadn't heard what he'd said to Guoen. 'I'm sure he agreed!' she said emphatically. 'How can you be?' I asked quite amazed and irritated. 'You know him,' she said, 'He's always loved her. Every time she breaks up and she comes back, he'll take her without a word. It's always been like that.' 'Well, things change!' I said and I decided to leave her alone to recollect her rather stupid actions. I went outside to see Cheyen sitting, very nervously, on the couch. Some girls were eying him suspiciously. 'Hey, Sakura,' he said rather cheerlessly. I felt quite angry at him. But before I could say anything to him disapproving his 'choice' he spoke, 'Yui, she heard Chel ask me?' 'Yeah.' 'Well, I saw her run away. Nothing happened and I didn't accept,' he said abruptly. Then added a bit sheepishly, 'will she talk to me, now?'

I somehow managed to get Yui out to the common room. At first she said that he's bluffing and then said that Guoen must've sent him just like she played one on me, using Benz. I knew Cheyen too well to know that he wouldn't do that. She knew that too anyway, so she finally got out. 'Yui,' he said very slowly, giving me time to disappear to another room. What had happened exactly there I'd never know; the next thing I heard is a loud slamming of door. I rushed out of Ather's room to see Guoen standing very close to Cheyen and the door to our room slammed shut. I had the imagination to figure out what had happened. Guoen seemed to be demarcating her territory and suddenly Cheyen became violent. He pushed aside Guoen and said quite too loudly, 'As I said today evening, I'm not interested in going out with you again.'

Many girls witnessed this, but unfortunately, Yui wasn't one of them. Guoen soon disappeared looking like a stamped-on-cobra and left the room and Cheyen gave one last look at the door and turned to leave. 'Don't go, Cheyen,' I told realizing that would be the gravest mistake, 'I'll tell her.' 'It's no use. She'll never...' he turned. I grabbed his arm and said, 'Trust me!' He gave me a would-be-a-nod gesture. I knocked several times on the door. No response. Cheyen again gave me a disheartened look. 'Don't move,' I said as I darted off to Jin's room. I remember a puzzled face and then I was again in Jin's room. She has always been friendly with me and I asked if I could go to her bedroom. Her window was close to ours and I thought that I might be able to communicate with Yui through that. But once I reached there I was quite sure that it's not possible.

Suddenly a stupid and rather dangerous idea hit me. I got out of Jin's window. I could hear her gasping. There was a narrow path through which I can get to our window, provided it was open. The only risk was the height - if I fell, it was a three-storey-fall. It was difficult than I thought it'd be and all the time a strange voice kept telling me that I'm going to fall and die. I had barely managed to get to the window, when Yui saw me and letting out a shriek, she put out her both arms and flung me into the room. I directly got to the business, 'He refused her, Yui. I saw it. You have to give him another chance. Yui?' She wasn't crying nor did she looked sad. Her eyes were bulging and she said a bit shaking, 'what did you thing you were doing by climbing... you could've fallen. It was three storey... You're so stupid.' I didn't know what to say, anyway I again put in the subject, 'He's waiting outside. He was about to go away. Please go now and you can yell at me later.'

Surprisingly she agreed. She got up and went outside and shut the door so that I couldn't see anything. And after my adventure my legs were rather shaky so I remained where I was. Soon enough both came bursting in and practically had me cornered. Cheyen pulled me up and looked at me ludicrously and asked, 'Are you mad?' I knew what he has on his mind and I merely smiled and replied, 'I'm fine.' This is so unfair. I was expecting to do the talking and asking them how things were between them and instead I'm being shouted at. 'She just climbed out and if I wasn't there, who would've been there to pull you in?' she was talking in the top of her voice looking at both of us. 'You shouldn't have done that,' Cheyen said assuming a stern fatherly expression. 'Ok, that's it,' I said trying to be loud but it came out quite feeble, 'How're things between you two?' Expression of both changed. It was such a sudden change that it looked a bit comic. 'We're cool,' Cheyen said and made me sit on the bed.

They were quite adamant as to not give away anything. Cheyen left after a few minutes and Yui was in a dream world. It seemed to me that they've arrived at an understanding by which neither of them will see others, nor would they announce their relationship as a 'relationship'. But I was quite mistaken as I found them kissing publicly near the football ground. They were quite some people around and definitely this was something to attract their attention. I was getting embarrassed so I disrupted the moment. When he went away, I asked her what's going on. 'We were kissing,' she said happily. 'I figured out that much, but are you two serious?' I asked. She sighed and said, 'Let's see - I've known him for half my life, I've dated him before, I'm very much happy with him and finally I got him to like me more than that bitch - yes, I think we're serious!' I didn't speak for a while, as I was quite shocked. She smiled at me and said, 'But he said that even at the time he was crazy about her, I meant more to him. You think that's true?' That was something, which I was so sure about. 'Definitely. If he were given then a choice between being friends with you and being romantic with her, I think he'd choose the first option.' She was so happy that she hugged me.

I didn't know how to react when I found out that Guoen and Li are back together. I met them after a class. Her hands were entwined among his and she was nuzzling her head on his arm. I tried to figure out his expression, but suddenly some strange feeling rose in my chest which wanted me to disappear from the scene. I must've almost ran because I practically knocked down Yui. 'Are you all right?' she asked. I very badly wanted to ask her regarding Li and Guoen, but I didn't want her to go all -'Are you jealous?' So I asked regarding her football and how's Cheyen and stuff. I must've rushed through my questions since she asked me if I'm all right again. 'Yeah.' I couldn't do that. 'No… I… I just saw Guoen and Li together!' 'Oh,' she said with a non-deliberate indifference, 'Yeah, apparently she went and told him that relationships aren't to be broken so suddenly and blah blah...'

This disturbed me for some reason. 'You didn't tell him about how she asked Cheyen out?' 'No!' she said looking at me scandalized, 'Of course not, why would I?' It registered only then to me that it'd have been inappropriate, 'No, you're right.' She looked at me suspiciously and said, 'I don't think it'd have made a difference for him. It's not that he's crazy about her; it just seems to me that he feels obligated to her or something.' She shrugged and said, 'Not our business, is it?' 'Right,' I said but I felt a lot better after this. They had got together so coolly as though nothing, which had happened, had ever happened.

Something quite strange happened then. We had a sale in our college and I happened to meet with Li's mom. Yui and I were hanging around this particular parlour (which had tastiest ice sodas we've ever had) and suddenly Li and his mom came up. That was something of a surprise - She was one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. With dark black hair reaching till her shapely hip and with long slender fingers and almost perfect features, she was better looking than most gorgeous girls in our college. The moment she came to us, she fixed her gaze at me and stared at me with an empty expression as though she'd caught up in her own thoughts. She lifted her gaze from me only when Li started to speak. He introduced Yui first. Apparently he had told a lot about her to his mom. She also had a nice voice. 'This is Sakura Kinomoto,' he said not having anything to add to it. 'Ah, Sakura… Kinomoto,' she said smiling. I tried to smile back but it was getting a bit awkward. Was she wondering if she had seen anybody uglier?

'Sayoran,' she said abruptly, 'Did you invite any of your friends?' 'Am I supposed to?' he asked looking a bit surprised. 'Of course,' she laughed and said, 'I'd be delighted to have you both.' As we didn't have any idea as to what she'd talking about, Yui asked, 'Invited for what?' It was Li who replied, 'It's a family-thing usually,' and eyeing his mother suspiciously, 'It's kind of a party and it's kind of an annual thing.' 'I've never had a friend over for that party.' 'We'd love to come,' Yui said brightly. 'By the way where is it held, mother?' Li asked. 'Your home,' she said serenely, 'our home.' Then she turned to us and invited us once again and they both left.

We didn't see Li during the sale after that. But we did see Guoen. She had been quite hostile to Yui of late so she rarely came up to us. But then she said in a super sweet voice, 'Hi, you met Li's mom? Isn't she a lady? She's crazy about me. I've told you about the way I used to be with those two all the time when we were young?' 'Yes you have!' Yui said abruptly to prevent her from explaining again. 'Another of their annual get-together is approaching. I'm so excited. It's really cool. Sayoran has got some really cool relations and all of them would be there,' she said making it quite clear that she attend it every year. 'This time we'll see for ourselves, wouldn't we Sakura?' Yui said. It hadn't occurred to me that Guoen is saying all these without having the knowledge that we're invited too. 'Yeah,' I replied enjoying the horror spreading over her face, 'I bet it'll be enjoyable.'

'What are you talking about?' she asked. 'Well, we're invited too,' Yui said in an offhand way. 'You two?' she asked and gave a hollow laugh and asked, 'who invited you?' 'Mrs. Li,' Yui said 'Sakura, we'd better go. It's getting late,' and we abandoned a shocked-looking Guoen. 'You think she'll break up with Li for this?' I asked her. 'Unfortunately, I don't think so. His mother invited us,' she said with some thought, 'Guoen had earlier mentioned about this party-thing. Li told us that only family-people are invited, right?' 'So she's family?' I asked somewhat amazed. 'We'll ask him today,' she said. 'When?' 'Today he'll come to our dorm for the lab report. Then.'

He laughed when we said how Guoen had reacted. 'Yeah, I had a feeling that she'll be disappointed. She always used to feel all excited since she's considered as a special guest.' 'Is she family?' I asked, unable to contain my curiosity. 'Not exactly. Can say a diiistant relation, but more than a family member, she's considered more like a family friend. That's how I met her first time,' he said and smiled as though he's reminiscing. After a while, he said, 'Today, Chel told me that when we had broke up, she decided to ask out Cheyen Ono,' he was smiling, 'She says she then decided that he'll never equal me.' 'That makes it sound like she dumped him!' Yui retorted looking really angry. 'Cheyen dumped her!' I said vehemently. 'Give me some credit, I figured that out,' he said smiling quite mischievously (which made him look absolutely delicious) 'Cheyen was obviously crazy about you!' Yui tried to keep a straight face but she couldn't help smiling at this.

When he was about to leave, he said, 'It's the coming Saturday. We're going by train. Can you get ready by 7 AM?' 'Why that early?' Yui asked. 'It's quite far away and we're going by train - nearly three hour trip,' he said and added, 'Chel would be coming too.' He didn't wait for us to react to this. He left immediately. 'We're going to have such fun,' she said sarcastically as she went to bed. I couldn't sleep properly. For some reason, I felt terrified at the thought of going. I was sure it was not due to Guoen or Li, it was due to some strange reason and the words of Mrs. Li kept echoing in my ears - 'Your home; our home.' I didn't want to go there. Something unpleasant was waiting for me there. But I was curious, yet it seemed like a burden and huge responsibility that I didn't want. With these thoughts I fell asleep.

I had many images, not any proper images, absolutely absurd images that night as dreams. I saw flying animals and flying people and the cherry tree, again undergoing it's yearly cycle within seconds and the man in black robes and Li. This time, I saw Li coming very near me, so near me that I could hear him breathe, and then he went away. The pain was so much when he left that I woke up. My heart was beating like mad when I woke up. I was in cold sweat and I found my cheeks wet. Then abruptly I started to cry for no reason. I don't remember me cry for years then. But then I cried and sobbed uncontrollably and the strangest of all the things was that I couldn't recollect why I'm in so much pain. I don't know what woke Yui up or whether she was already awake; she sprang from her bed and came beside me.

'What's the matter, Sakura?' she asked me looking thoroughly shocked. I flung my arms around her and tried to control myself. She patted me consolingly on my back and again asked me what was wrong. I looked at her. What'd I tell her - for no reason? Because Li left me in my dreams? Because I had a disturbing dream? I wiped my eyes, I was certainly feeling better, probably because the effect was wearing out, but I still couldn't figure out what I should tell her. I merely said, 'I had a bad dream.' She raised her eyebrows. It was a question - I'm the one who'd trained her like that by telling her everything.

'I'm having strange dreams, Yui. For instance I saw something, which means absolutely nothing to me, but yet I'm crying because I'm so much affected,' I said. Yui gave me an empty sort of look. 'Ok, now are you feeling better?' 'I think so.' Thankfully she didn't ask me what I saw. It was not that it was embarrassing or anything; it was just so weird. Anyway I couldn't go back to sleep so I thought I might as well do my assignment. I couldn't concentrate at all. All these days I've been pretending, fooling myself, that I don't care for Li, but now, I've convinced myself that there is something about him, which I can't explain. Why do I care so much about him? Why am I seeing him in my dreams?

I started feeling this every time I see Li. That pain and that feeling of loneliness heighten whenever he is near me. I couldn't bring myself to tell Yui all these. This time it wasn't because I thought Yui would make fun, but merely because I didn't want to re-live the pain. And to top all this, the strange feeling I had regarding the trip was also freaking me out. I met more of Guoen that month and I couldn't endure her at all. There were a few outbursts when she loudly proclaimed that I'm a jealous freak. I'm quite sure that Mr. Tsukishiro heard it and gave me a sympathetic look, which made me feel more pathetic. It was an absolutely disastrous week. Then something of an improvement happened.

It was on Friday night. The next day we'd go to Li's. For some strange reason, Yui was too much excited and she wasn't at all reluctant to admit it. We chatted a lot that night and honestly I didn't want to go to sleep; as I was sure I'd have another horrible dream. I did have a dream, but it was very different sort of a dream. There was no man in black robes. But there were the two winged creatures that I'd seen earlier in my dreams. But I used to see flicker of them that I couldn't really understand at first that those are the ones I saw. One looked very much like a human being except that he was white throughout except his hair and eyes, which were silver and that he had wings – large pearly-white wings. The other was a lion-like creature also with wings. Both were decorated with an armor-like vest and earrings. There was no Li with me then.

Suddenly the lion called out my name. 'No, Keruberos,' said the white guy, 'we must not.' He looked at me straight into my eyes and said, 'I'm Yue and this is Keruberos; we were the most faithful servants Claw Reed had ever had and we are now yours.' He stopped and took a step closer and continued, 'But, to have us back along with your memories and your powers, you must find us.' 'How?' I asked. 'You have the key for that, Sakura,' the lion said with some emotion. 'It will guide you.' And they spanned out their wings and raised themselves from the ground. 'Don't go,' I yelled. 'Please stay and tell me more,' I kept calling after them as they flew higher. 'Come back...'

I woke up to find Yui shaking me. 'Are you all right?' she asked me once I came around. 'You were screaming for someone to stay!' 'I had this strange dream,' I said. 'Black robes and Li again?' she asked sounding a bit exasperated. 'No, I have to find Yue and Keruberos!' I said automatically. I could recollect my dream so clearly as though I'd just really experienced it. 'What are you talking about?' I described to her the dream. She stared at me in a weary-sort of manner and just flopped onto my bed. Across the room I could see my table and a few books stacked one on top of the other and propped on top of all these was Kero.

I got out of the bed and took him in my hands. It was so small that it fitted comfortable in my cupped hands. 'What kind of a teddy bear has wings and a long tail with bushy ends?' I asked Yui. 'You really need sleep Sakura,' she said looking at me as though I've flipped. 'No,' for some reason, it was important that I tell somebody, 'look at him!' I extended Kero to Yui. She examined it and said, 'Yes, it's a bit weird for a bear but you honestly don't think that it's that lion?' 'Maybe I do. His name is Kero and that thing's name was Keruberos. Couldn't Kero be short for Keruberos?' I was feeling much elated and hopeful. Seeing Yui's expression, I said, 'This might sound weird and freaky, but I know something's going on and whatever it may be, I should know of it real fast.'

'Ok, I'm listening, tell me of your theories!' she said. Blank. 'Well,' I started, 'I think, there's this man, the guy in the robes, who wants me and Li to do something, real fast. For having the power to do whatever it is, I must find out who Keruberos and Yue are. I'm also supposed to use a key.' 'I think,' she said looking slightly amused, 'that you're too much caught up with Li and all the magic stuff you've heard for the nineteen years of your life is brainwashing you to make strange theories!' It was no use. She'll never understand. I was tempted to tell her of my dream in which I actually saw Li so close... But I thought better of it. And besides, what Yui said kind of made sense. Am I being crazy?

I kept Kero back and decided to sleep; it was only 1 in the morning. 'Good idea,' Yui said yawning as she went back. I couldn't sleep that night. I kept thinking of Yue and Keruberos (whose names I wrote down in case I forget) and the key. What key should I use? I whiled away 2 hours thinking of that. I got up by around 3:30 and felt quite restless. After a few hours, I'll be at Li's house. I'd a feeling that I'll get my answers there. But how? Then my thoughts wandered to Guoen and the way she'd behave to me in front of all the party-people. Whatever Yui has to say, I was sure it's going to be really humiliating for me.

Time went real fast and soon I found myself sitting in the train along with Yui, Li, Guoen and Tai Dee. Probably Li invited him knowing that the party is currently open for friends. Tai Dee was quite charming and sweet and sometimes got a bit carried away flattering Yui. Guoen was adamantly hostile to both Yui and me. She occasionally mentioned about Cheyen and called him a fool supposedly under her breath. This made Yui really furious and she sat between Tai and Li thus providing a gap between Guoen and me. I started feeling nervous. She looked more than a few times at me almost temptingly as though insults were waiting to let go on the tip of her tongue. But she didn't. There was a catch though. I had to endure her saying how much special she was in Li's family and how cool his relations are. Occasionally Li cleared his throat aloud, presumably embarrassed.

After three really, really long hours, we reached the station. My head was throbbing with the latest information I had received - four years ago, a cousin of Li's had made a pass at Guoen and Li attacked him so hard that the guy still doesn't have much sensations over his privates. A large car, a relative of Limousine, was waiting for us. 'So, he's rich!' Yui whispered to my ear. It was a bit clearer when we reached his house. It was a huge bungalow with splendid gardens and a fountain. We had to travel a bit after the gate to reach the main house. The butler ushered us in. After taking our coats off, Li led us to a large room quite near the main hall. Mrs. Li was there. Obviously, it must be her favorite room.

'How are you feeling, Sayoran?' she asked. In the glamour of the house, I'd forgotten about Li. I looked at him. He looked a bit sad. But he said, 'Fine. Where're the others?' That was an excellent question. Expecting to see a huge crowd of young people dancing and making merry, I've not seen one human being in the house. 'I forgot to tell you. Three days ago Aunt Lue passed away. So most of her near relatives won't be coming,' she said serenely. 'Your aunt?' Guoen asked. 'Oh no, dear,' she said smiling, 'distant relative of ours.' 'Oh,' she said suddenly, 'Meiling is here.' She got up. 'I'll get her,' Guoen said in a shrill voice and sped of. I was looking at the beautiful door, when I felt Mrs. Li's gaze fixed upon me. She immediately looked away. 'Li, why are you making your friends stand in front of me - make them comfortable. Go,' she said laughingly. Obviously she wanted to be with herself.

We were taken to the main hall, which was so empty, it started giving me the creeps. 'Sayoran,' I heard someone call from behind. Li smiled as well as flinched when he heard her voice. I turned to see a tall beautiful girl around our age standing on the stairs, looking very excited. She ran towards us and hugged him. Guoen didn't look too happy at this. Li was smiling in a weary sort of way as she got off him. Suddenly she looked among us in a searching sort of way and found me and stared at me for a while before calling out aloud, 'Sakura!'

'Do you know me?' I asked one I recovered. Was she one of my classmates in the days of my life, which I'd forgotten? 'No,' she said emphatically and looked at Li as though for some support. He was staring at her quite bewildered. 'No, a guess. Sayoran's mum had told me that a certain Sakura is coming,' she said in an offhand manner. 'Whom else did she mention?' Yui asked her obviously suspicious. She didn't seem to remember other names. 'Hi, I'm Yui and this is Tai,' she said. 'I'm Meiling, a cousin of Sayoran's.' She soon changed the subject and dragged Li away. 'How rude!' Guoen said loudly as she left with Li. We all ignored her. Tai Dee was deep in conversation with Yui, who seemed more interested in other things, but she was evidently trying to be a good audience.

As none of us bothered to ask Guoen what she had found so rude, she again started speaking. 'You know, she's not only his cousin but also his fiancée.' 'What?' Yui and I asked in unison. Tai looked a bit put out seeing that Yui's attention had been diverted. So she turned towards him once again though I could bet that her ears were focused here. Glad that she finally had our attention, Guoen said, 'yeah, they had kind of an engagement, when they were small according to the wishes of their grandfather who passed away four years ago. But at the last moments of his life, he had told Li's mum that this is not to become if Li chose another already. By that time, he had chosen another!' 'His family is weird, isn't it?' I said almost instantly. 'Watch whose family you're calling weird. For instance, Meiling is cool. How much ever she says that she doesn't have anything for Li, I can feel jealousy whenever I go near them.' Meiling did strike as a cool person, but she didn't look jealous. She just seemed to like Li a lot.

A few people of Li's family arrived after a few minutes and Meiling and Li were busy playing host to them. We were wandering around, introducing ourselves to his cousins and uncles (one of them was only 13 years old) and soon I was separated from all of our gang. I started getting a bit intimidated. After that morning, I hadn't had seen Mrs. Li at all. But then I saw her. She was dressed elegantly and looked really young. When she came closer I realized that she seemed restless. She was looking at the floor as though in want for words and finally she looked up and opened her mouth to say something. This procedure had taken so much time that I was kind of in suspense. But all she said was, 'Where's Yui?' I looked behind me - I was quite sure she was there a few minutes ago. 'I'll look for her, Mrs. Li,' I said and was about to leave, when she grabbed my hand.

'Don't bother,' she said smiling, 'I merely wanted to show you girls something.' Curiosity to see what that was made me go and fetch Yui. I soon found her with Meiling. The latter was looking a bit irritated and I suddenly guessed what their topic of discussion was. 'What's up, Sakura?' Meiling asked obviously wanting to get rid of Yui. 'Mrs. Li sent me to fetch her,' I said trying not to think of her as an old schoolmate. 'She wants to show us something.' 'Ooh, let's all go then,' Meiling said and she held both of us by our hands and asked me to lead the way. Mrs. Li was still standing there exactly where I'd left her. That seemed odd though, since she could've easily sat on a chair nearby and still I wouldn't've missed her.

She led us out of the hall and we soon found ourselves walking through a corridor. 'You might call me silly, but as you get old, you show a tendency to show off,' she said laughingly and opened a door which led into a small room. There was a large curtain over a rectangle frame. 'I had this ancient painting brought here from where we used to live and I wanted some people with me while I enjoy it.' Thinking it all too odd, Yui and me looked at each other. Meiling was standing impatiently yet very calm and grave. Mrs. Li slowly pulled away the cloth over the frame and before us stood the portrait of a man in long black cloak with blue embroidery, who was wearing his long hair in a braid; the man who had visited me in my dreams.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: HAUNTED HOUSE?**

I don't remember how long I must've stared at the painting, since it seems that I'd passed out after. When I woke up I was in a totally different room, on a single bed, with Yui by my side. 'Oh, Sakura,' she cried out and hugged me; 'you had us worried. What happened?' Then I couldn't recollect what exactly had I seen, but soon I remembered the painting and the resemblance to the man in my dreams but I chose not to say anything to Yui. I realized that my clothes were changed and I was wearing what which seemed to be a dressing gown. I wanted to ask who took care of all that when Meiling appeared and said that I was out for more than three hours and Mrs. Li insisted she change my clothes. I felt quite embarrassed. Meiling took a seat beside Yui and asked what happened. I again lied, 'I don't know.'

I was asked to take rest and not move about. I didn't feel like resting though, I felt quite energetic and how much ever I told Mrs. Li that I'm ok, she insisted that both Yui and I stay overnight. After much persuasion, Yui called the hostel-warden and informed her that we wouldn't return. Since it was a Saturday it was quite easy to get leave. Even though I argued that the stay was quite unnecessary, I went into a deep sleep by evening. When I woke up no one was around and feeling a bit creepy all alone in a strange room, I got out of the room. Once out of the room, I was back at the same corridor, I'd visited that morning. Even though I was scared, some strange force made me enter the room where the portrait was kept. I took a deep breath and steadied myself lest I should faint again, before I opened the door. I once more beheld the grand portrait, which wasn't covered then, of the man who had appeared in my dreams. Someone opened the door behind me - it was Yui.

'Mrs. Li asked me to fetch you for dinner. I couldn't find you in the bedroom. I guessed you'd be here,' she said trying to look weary of my daring. She merely stood by me and we both took sometime to look at the picture. She then spoke, 'He seems to fit the description of the man in your dreams.' 'Why do you think I fainted?' I asked her not taking the eyes off the man. She sounded a bit scared when she asked, 'Does he look similar or...?' 'I see this same man,' I said emphatically, 'with the same clothes, same hairstyle,'… 'over and over.' 'Let's get out of here,' she said practically dragging me away. We didn't speak much until we arrived at the dinner table. An elegant yet quite simple dinner was awaiting us and all of them were seated around me. Even Guoen and Tai Dee were there.

I was determined not to ask who the guy was until I get Mrs. Li for myself. But Guoen was sticking with her wherever she goes. After about thirty minutes after the meal, I had no choice but ask her in front of Li, Guoen and Yui who he was. I must've imagined it, but she seemed to think this question very interesting. 'He was my great grandfather - Clow Reed!' I felt so shaky that I'd to sit down. 'Are you all right, child?' she asked. Yui suddenly placed her hand on me, yet I'd have bet she didn't know what was going on since I hadn't had told her the name which Yue had mentioned in my dreams. I looked up and said, 'Yes, I still seem to be a bit shaky.' Guoen was looking at me in a weird way and Li looked sympathetic, but Mrs. Li and Meiling seemed to be excited about something.

I had plenty of opportunity that night to tell Yui about the name, but I didn't. She seemed too spooked for her own good. After a while Li came to me. I thought that he'd have come to apologize since this happened in his house, but he didn't apologize, instead he said, 'you're not as strong as I thought to have fainted seeing a guy who isn't even scary,' and he started laughing. Strangely this didn't irritate me. I automatically said. 'I'm many things which you're not aware of.' At this juncture Guoen came and sat very close to Li as though warning me and asked very politely, 'Do you feel better?' 'Yes,' I said and suddenly I wanted to see the picture again. And this time I wanted to see it with Li. He agreed but Guoen insisted she come along. I didn't mind that even though I would have preferred him alone.

Three of us stared at the picture for more that fifteen minutes in absolute silence, if you count out the intermittent throat clearing by Guoen. To both of our surprise, we turned away from the picture at the same time. He began to walk away, when I'd this urge to look around. 'Li,' I called after him. This was the first time I'd called him by name. It was quite awkward. 'Yes?' 'Can I have a look at the back of the painting?' I asked. Guoen gave an exasperated sigh and sat down on a chair. 'Sure, what're you looking for?' he asked as I went behind the portrait. He accompanied me and we both sat down aghast at the numerous writings on the backside of the painting. 'Who wrote all these?' I asked. 'I don't know,' he said running his fingers over the dust-covered wood, on which was written something by a child's hand. 'I think it's me!' he said abruptly.

Guoen joined us on hearing us talk and she walked straight into the middle and sat there. 'You wrote these?' I asked. 'Looks like it,' he said and he read what was written on that particular spot - 'dear friend, look for the key inside yourself.' He looked up and said, 'I guess I had a friend who had swallowed a key!' I laughed at this and suddenly Guoen said, 'Did you mean your dead friend, then?' Li's expression changed and though Guoen apologized, it seemed to me that she was quite happy about this. It was all too depressing so I got up. 'Wait,' he called, 'Don't you want to read the rest?' he asked quite cheerfully. 'Kind of, but are you sure that you'll be fine reading them to me?' I couldn't make out anything written. 'I'm kind of curious to read the whole thing myself,' he replied as he began to scratch off the dirt behind it.

So we sat there, reading. The handwriting was very incoherent and was written in a mixture of ancient and modern Chinese. All sounded highly nonsensical and most of them seemed to be advises. Some of them were like this - 'He who sees needn't necessarily understand' and 'Our power is not what others think it to be.' Guoen nodded intelligently at this but it was kind of stupid. 'Did you make these yourselves?' I asked apparently looking amused for Guoen suddenly said, 'Just because you are shallow, don't think the same of others!' I would've been offended if Li hadn't had smirked at this. He even laughed out a bit much to the irritation of Guoen. Suddenly he stopped laughing and was staring gravely at the wood. His lips moved noiselessly and got up and left the room after muttering something. Guoen got up too and then bend down and read out in English - 'God alone knows how much I love you and miss you. What I would not give to have you back!'

Guoen didn't look up. She gave a sigh and walked out of the room. What does all this mean? Who did he love and miss so much and to whom are these advices addressed? I had a good mind to go after Li but thought better of it. My mind was still pondering over the first thing he had read - about the key. I got up and walked to the door. I turned back and had a final look at the picture. Making sure that no one was about, I muttered, 'Clow Reed, I think I have a lot to ask you! What key do you mean? Tell me about Yue and Keruberos!' Obviously, I got no answer. I walked out.

That night, Yui and I were to sleep in the room, where I had taken rest that evening. Only then I realized that the bed were I'd been sleeping and the new bed arranged for Yui were truly extraordinary. They were carved with images of people, dragons and lions. It was very beautiful and I spent a long time watching those. It seemed to me that they were moving. Yui, who hadn't spoken much to me that night, asked, 'Are you ok, Sakura?' 'Of course I am,' I said as I got up from the foot of the bed. She looked at me questioningly. I told her everything that had happened that night. 'So, you're saying that the two keys have some kind of a connection?' she asked trying not to look stupid. 'Probably. He read that the key is within his friend,' I said, 'How am I supposed to find his friend? And isn't his friend dead?' 'I got it!' she jumped out of her bed.

'You got what?' I asked. 'He was giving an advice, not to his friend, but a general one. The key could've meant a characteristic, since it's within you,' she said. 'Go on,' I prompted her. 'But it doesn't. It's a solid object or a person!' she said. 'How can you tell?' I asked her. 'Otherwise, he's have written stuff like - bring out the key within you... or such crap. But he have written other stupid advises, right?' she asked me, 'and are you sure that he had read the whole thing?' 'Pretty much,' I said. I hadn't had told her how we had to stop the session and what was the last sentence we had come across. 'Interesting!' she said looking all detective-like. Suddenly she looked quite disgusted and said, 'I can't believe you tricked me into taking this crap seriously!' and without one word she climbed onto her bed and turned her back at me.

I couldn't sleep properly that night. I kept waking up disturbed by images of Clow Reed and the two winged creatures. I had to do something about this. It'd be rude if I go exploring at four in the morning, so I was forced to remain on the bed. I wished that Yui was awake, but she was sound asleep, which was so uncharacteristic of her. I started getting restless. I got out of the room and walked as quietly as I could. But then I decided to walk normally, since I didn't want to appear to be furtive if someone is to come along. I didn't even look at the door, which led to Clow Reed. I didn't know where I was directed. Aimlessly I walked until I reached the dining room. To my surprise, Mrs. Li, her son, Meiling and Guoen sitting around the dining table. Mrs. Li smiled at me and said, 'Good Morning, Sakura. Had a nice sleep?' 'Oh yes,' I lied. I looked at Li; he seemed a little put off, but otherwise quiet normal. While the others were wearing their night things, he was wearing jeans and a weird looking shirt. 'Come and sit here,' Meiling invited me.

It was odd - a group of people sitting around a dining table at four thirty in the morning. No sooner had I sat down than I got up saying that I should probably wake Yui up, so that she wouldn't feel left out when she wakes up. 'I'll do that,' Li said and he got up smirking, 'it'll be a nice surprise.' I didn't even bother to imagine what the surprise would be and sat down. Guoen made a funny noise of disapproval. 'Are you feeling better, dear?' Mrs. Li asked me. 'Yes, I'm fine. Thank you so much for all this,' I said earnestly. No one had ever given me so much attention. Even my own aunt, when two years back, I'd fainted in her house, gave me a glass of cold water when I got up and asked me to leave as quick as possible, since she didn't want Toya to know I was there.

'Sakura,' she suddenly called. 'Will you go after Li and ask him to wake up the housekeeper? He knows where her room is.' I got up and reentered the ominous corridor. It was odd that she should send me instead of Meiling or Guoen, who knew the house and the rooms better. I didn't argue of course. I soon heard a yell and a loud laughter and at the same juncture a wildly laughing Li shot out of a room and nearly collided with me. 'Oh, sorry,' he said abruptly, his laughter fading. 'It was a nasty surprise for her,' he said smirking. I again became all tongue-tied since he was dangerously close to me. He looked at me for a while and said, 'Right,' and walked towards the dining room. I'd forgotten for what I was sent. 'Li,' I called out. 'Yeah?' 'Your mum wanted you to wake up the house keeper.' He turned and walked towards the opposite direction, passing me.

He stopped as he got nearer and said, 'about yesterday. I'm sorry, I left like that.' Nothing came from my mouth even though I wanted to say something nice. He went on, 'Guoen seems to have read it and quite loudly too... I wish she hadn't done that.' Now, it'd have been only too appropriate for me to have shut up and look stupid as before, but oh no, I had to speak, 'Whom did you mean?' I thought he might get upset again and walk out, but he didn't. 'I wish I knew,' he said, looking a bit surprised at my asking. He smiled at me and walked off. I proceeded in the other direction and only then I wondered where Yui was. I went into the room where we slept to find Yui again sleeping. I was sure that I'd heard her yell at Li quite coherently. She covers herself completely when she sleeps, so I decided to pull off her covers to see if she isn't bluffing.

I felt quite embarrassed at the clothes I found her in. She never put adequate clothes on while she sleeps and that night also she had taken the liberty of doing that. What embarrassed me was that Li had seen her in the scantily-clad state. 'Wake up, Yui!' She got up and looked at me bewildered, 'It's not even five. And where's Li?' 'He went. We are all awake and we thought you'd like to join.' 'Oh, great,' she said and she jumped out of the bed and ordered me to get out, she wanted to dress; and oh, yes was she embarrassed to have Li see her like this. I soon found myself outside the room and I walked straight to the dining room. All were there and all looked expectantly behind me. 'She'll take a minute - she's getting dressed up.' 'What?' Li asked getting up.

'What?' he repeated, 'she isn't up yet?' I didn't see what was there to be so upset about. 'She'll come now, she...' I couldn't complete. 'Three times I'd called her and made sure that she was fully awake,' he said. 'She's totally awake now,' I reassured him now understanding why it'd taken so long. He again walked to the room this time accompanied by Guoen and me. He knocked sharply at the door. No response. We opened the door and there she was again curled up within the covers. 'Yui!' I called out loudly and pulled the cover off her face careful not to reveal what she was wearing. She opened her eyes weakly and then got up abruptly, putting all my efforts to cover her in vain and seeing Li, she pulled the covers to her again. Li didn't seemed to have noticed anything for he came closer and practically shouted at her, 'We've been calling you for such a long time. Every time you get up and then go back to sleep?' This wasn't something which I'd have liked myself leave alone Yui, who slept barely two hours each night. For an unknown reason, she began to cry.

Li looked so shocked that he looked almost ridiculous. I put my arms around her, it was a reflex action, and hissed to the other two to go away. Guoen promptly left, but Li seemed to have been glued to the floor. 'What's the matter?' I asked to Yui, who was now crying all over my shoulder. 'I don't know,' she said getting up and looking at Li, she squirmed a bit closer to me and away from Li and brought the cover really closer and held it with a shaking hand. She was shaking all over. 'Did you have a nightmare?' I asked. 'No,' she said and wiping her face with the back of her hand she continued, 'it was like a heaven. It was so good. Everybody was good to me and when... when he knocked for the first... and then when he came... each time I was woken up, it was like I'll never go there.' 'I was promised that there won't be any more nightmares!' She hugged me again and hid her face on my shoulder and before I could call her, she had gone into a deep sleep.

I gently laid her back, and covered her properly and sat on a chair beside her. Strangely I understood what she meant. 'What happened?' Li, who'd, stood there all this while asked. I felt quite angry at him for losing his temper. 'She just wanted to sleep and you would not only wake her up but also yell at her!' I said careful not to raise my voice. 'She had slept enough, you'd think and we've been calling her for so...' 'Li, she has insomnia. This is probably the first time in the last three or four years that she'd have got sleep for more than three continuous hours.' Li didn't say anything. 'She used to jump up from sleep in cold sweat, sometimes in tears and though sleepy, would be too scared to fall asleep. I've been living with her for over a year now and whenever in the middle of the night I get up, she'd be there either all upset or playing chess with herself or doing something.' 'She seemed to have visited a place where, she was promised a sleep without any troubles and when you... when we woke her up, she must've felt that she's to go into a nightmare again and never see peace or something.' I surprised myself in having deciphered out so much. 'Let her sleep,' I said and went outside.

Li followed me. 'I messed it up, didn't I?' he asked quietly. 'You didn't know,' I said consolingly. He walked by me to the dining room, where Meiling alone was sitting looking quite bored. I really hoped that this wouldn't be mentioned to anyone else, though there was a fair chance that Guoen had already told this to Mrs. Li. Apparently she hadn't had, for Mrs. Li, when she met us after about half an hour asked me where Yui was. 'She didn't get proper sleep yesterday night. So she insisted on sleeping on,' Li said very quickly not giving time for his mother to even ask prying questions. 'Oh, all right. Why don't you all leave after lunch then?' she asked smiling. I knew there would be a price. 'Today's Sunday. You won't miss any class,' Li said. 'I suppose. Where is Tai Dee?' I asked suddenly realizing that I didn't see or hear anything of him since the evening before. 'He's out with Chel,' he said trying not to smile.

We began to worry, as we heard nothing of Yui even after an hour. Guoen sensed this and tried to change the subject whenever Yui was mentioned. 'No,' he said after a few seconds of silence. 'You have to wake her up, now!' he said looking at me. I got up without saying anything wondering why he didn't he say my name and went towards her room. I was a bit scared to see her again. I knocked. She opened the door. She was fully dressed and looked as though she was waiting for someone to knock. She looked worn out. Before I could say anything, she pulled me in and closed the door behind us. She sat down on a chair and covered her face in her both hands and said, 'I don't know what came over me!' I was kind of hoping she wouldn't remember much. I let her speak for a while mainly because I didn't know what to say. 'And in front of Li. How embarrassing and you saw what I was wearing!' she paused for a while and looked at me for a while and asked, 'I still feel a bit weird. I never oversleep... I don't get two hours of sleep usually. Oh dear God!'

'Did you tell this to anyone?' she asked me wearily. 'No, of course not, though, as you'd know, Guoen was here when you... er... when we came,' I said. She again buried her face in her hands and sat like that for a while. I sat beside her and almost kept my hand over her shoulders, when she suddenly got up and said, 'They'll have to live with it. Come, Sakura, we've got a train to catch!' and stormed out of the room. I followed her and told of our invitation to stay for lunch. She looked a bit upset, and then she soon revived and said, 'So much the better!' and smiled rather nervously. I knew she had headed towards the hall instead of the dining room and got irritated with me for not telling this as we arrived at the empty hall. We turned towards the direction of dining room, when we met Li. There was an awkward moment after which Yui swallowed rather loudly and waited.

'I'm sorry that I...' Li began, 'I thought you were merely a sleepy, lazy-sort of... you know some people can sleep like forever,' he tried to laugh. I looked at Yui wondering why she wasn't responding. She was stariing at Li with the same horror-stricken face when she was on the bed. 'I'm really sorry,' he said and he passed us. Yui went on without giving any explanation. I didn't ask until I reached Meiling's room, which was empty. 'What's wrong with you? Why didn't you speak anything to Li?' I asked and was horrified to see her eyes welling up again. 'Yui!' 'I don't know, it's like I'm not supposed to forgive him or something, at least for now!' she said. 'What nonsense are you talking off?' I asked getting angry. 'I don't know,' she said blinking, 'It was bliss and I was so angry and even scared of him when he said whatever he had said then. I never went there and I am kind of shunned.' 'I feel weird,' she added after a pause. 'You are being weird. He was merely worried seeing you sleep on and on...' I said emphatically. She nodded and our conversation ceased as Meiling and Guoen entered.

Guoen smirked on seeing Yui and I was afraid that the latter would burst into tears any moment then. Surprisingly, she gave her the same indifferent, ignoring kind of look. We spend the rest of the morning doing practically nothing. We avoided Li, on Yui's request and after a few hours we had our lunch. It was quite simple and throughout lunch I noticed Meiling looking at me furitively. When she realized that I'd caught her, she smiled and asked if I'm all right. I assured her that I was not in any chances of passing out. And when we were about to leave, Mrs. Li caught me by my shoulder and brought me near her and I was quite sure that she would hug me. But she didn't. She merely said, 'I'm so sorry that you had a terrible time here,' 'Oh, I'm really fine now,' I said not knowing what to do being almost hugged by a relative stranger. When she let go, I saw that all my companions were looking very much surprised.

Guoen was quite angry at me. She pushed me hard to make way for her to get out. Mrs. Li caught Yui's hand and said all the departing words. I was mainly interested in observing Li, who was leaning on the door, looking alternately at the floor and at Yui. He seemed too much hurt by Yui's behavior. I too thought that she was behaving way too damsel-in-distress-like. Meiling, who'd arrived then waved at us and she was the only one who'd paid any attention to Tai Dee, whom we all had practically forgotten, except of course, Li. Li caught of Tai's and Guoen's hand in each of his and pulled them to the car, which was waiting for us outside. We all had a quiet journey to the railway station.

Once we got out of the car and walked into the station, Yui gave me her bag and walked briskly towards Li and flung her arms around him in a fierce hug and stood like that for a while. Li looked too shocked for words and Guoen looked positively dangerous. She let him go and said, 'I'm sorry; I was so cold towards you. Just know that I had my reasons!' and then she came towards me as coolly as nothing had happened and took her bag off my hand. When this shock had worn out, Li and Tai went to check when the next train was. We had to wait for nearly thirty minutes. Yui didn't let me speak to her for a while, that is until we boarded the train. After that she became chatty and told me that she didn't seem to have all those terrible feelings against Li then. She didn't seem to know why, though.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: THE PROBLEMS BACK HOME**

Our journey was as boring as any journey could ever be. Guoen was in the most horrible of the moods and once or twice I saw her smiling nastily to herself. At first I thought that this suggested better spirits, no, I soon realized, as she was careful to push me again, when I was on my way to the toilet. Only this time I fell, real hard and that too on my back. She didn't bother to even look if I had been hurt or not. Actually, it kind of did hurt. It was embarrassing, too. There were many people around. I got up as quickly as possible and went to the toilet. There I realized that the white blouse I was wearing had brown streaks over the back. I tried to rub it off, but it wouldn't go. Now, all will have to know that I'd fallen.

When I came back to the seat, Guoen looked a lot happier than she was. Irritated I sat down beside Yui. 'Are you ok?' she asked. Wondering how she came to know I fell, I said, 'Quite fine!' 'Guoen told you fell,' she said quietly. 'Oh, she did? How thoughtful!' 'She said it was very funny,' she said even quietly. I felt so much angry at her that I didn't speak. 'Why is she angry at me for? You're the one who hugged Li!' I spoke aloud my wonder. After a while Li asked me if I was ok. 'Ask her,' I told loud, 'She pushed me!' I was planning not to tell this, but when he asked, it automatically came out. 'Oh, grow up!' Guoen said shifting on her seat. Li looked quite pissed off, but didn't say anything. Yui was about to say something for she moved a bit forwards. I stopped her and whispered her to shut up, as I have had my share of embarrassment that day.

It was a hot day, especially for me, since I had to wear my overcoat all the while, to hide the stain and it was a terrible journey back to the college under the fiery sun. By the time we reached our dorm, my clothes were sticking to my back. I immediately went to take a shower. Yui collapsed on the bed. When I was in the shower, I kept hoping that she wouldn't fall asleep again. When I came out, Yui was up and about collecting her stuff, getting ready for a shower. When she left, I had nothing to do, except sit gazing at the beautiful, tempting bed. I don't know when I fell asleep, but woke up, with a start hearing someone knock. Angry with Yui for not attending the door, I got up. There was no one about; she was still in the shower. I looked at the clock; I'd slept only for about five minutes! I opened the door - it was Li.

'Can I come in?' he asked. Doesn't he get tired or something? 'Yeah, Yui's in shower, though!' I said letting him in. 'Oh,' he said apologetically, 'I didn't know, I was interrupting your sleep!' 'That's ok,' I said, now remembering to go all awkward. Before I had to start a new conversation, he said, 'I'm really sorry, that the trip to my house turned such a catastrophe!' 'It wasn't a catastrophe!' I said trying to sound convincing. 'I wasn't happy about mum inviting you two there from the first!' he said emphatically. 'What?' I said, slightly offended. 'I didn't mean like that!' Li said sounding a bit embarrassed. 'I meant, I didn't want you two to come to _that_ house!' He went on, 'we used to live, at least for the past three years in another house, nearer to the city. We used to have parties there.' Yui walked in on us at that juncture.

'Hey, Li!' she said sounding curious. 'Sit down, Yui,' he said automatically and continued mainly addressed, much to my embarrassment, to me. 'That house is ominous. Every time something funny happens over there!' he said sadly. 'We used to live there, or mum did, since I used to live in a town, where I did my school years. After I had completed my primary classes, I came to live there. But I never was happy in that house. It was like a cursed or something. I am still scared of that house. Always something funny happens when I'm in that house.' I found this very interesting but Yui laughed at this, and said, 'so, you think, Sakura fainted and I had the strange dream because of the queerness of the house?!' He looked a bit irritated and asked, 'What was your reason, for hating me till we got out of the house?' 'None of your business,' she said looking quite affronted.

'I didn't come for a fight,' he said shaking his head, 'I came to apologize again for what all had happened.' He went soon after, making sure that there was no disagreement between Yui and him. After he had left, I tried to explain the meaning in what he said, to Yui. 'He does sound probable; it's just I didn't want him to think that I thought so!' she said haughtily. I wanted to say something back, but nothing came to my mind. She continued, 'I too could feel all the strangeness, especially, since I'd experienced it. But I unlike him, think that it's not a cursed house,' she said and after some thought added, 'I merely think it's a place where good things happen, instead of a catastrophes!' I felt quite proud of myself for making her like me, even by a few happy degrees.

'What do you mean?' I said, laughing. She was also in a good mood and she continued, 'the dream I had, was by no means a bad one. And I was able to sleep for, let me see,' she said looking at the floor, 'for seven whole hours!' 'That had never happened in the life I remember!' 'And about you fainting... it was for a good turn!' This wasn't that funny, 'You mean, I get some kind of resistance against fainting from having once fainted successfully?' I asked feeling quite weird. 'Cut the crap,' she said irritated and continued, 'I really think that you should take Claw whatever seriously! That whole mumbo jumbo...' She came really close to me and held me by my shoulders. No this was a bit creepy. She brought her lips very close to my ear and said, 'I know what the key is and where it is!'

This must have been the greatest shock I've ever had in the past few years. 'What?' I was sure she was trying to fool me. She bend down the bed and pulled out a small case, in which I've kept some stuff, I've brought from my home. She caught hold of the bolt and asked, 'May I?' I must have nodded, since she opened it. It was a small case and I felt quite happy with myself seeing the way I'd packed the contents very neatly and compactly and felt irritated when Yui started pulling out things unceremoniously from the box. 'What're you doing?' I couldn't help but interject. 'I'll show you in a moment,' she said taking out a particularly small box, from in between some clothes. I remembered what it contained. 'It contains a funny necklace,' I said trying to take it from Yui, but she moved away and opened it herself. And brought out a long chain, with a small pendent.

I looked at it fondly. 'I remember this one. Dad gave it to me,' I said as I took it from her hand, now she let me. I fondled it for a while and looked at the silly-looking pendent. It was a small, very small pendent, what exactly it was I never understood. I put it on my neck and asked, 'So, this is your key?' 'Yes, look at the pendent - it's a key!' she said emphatically. I looked at it and thought that Yui had flipped, 'It's not a key. It's an irregular metal something!' She brought a magnifying glass, from her drawer and brought it to my neck. 'Look, Sakura,' she said. I looked. If it was indeed a key, it was a very weird key - It had wings, for instance. 'So, this is what which would unravel the mysteries of the dreams I have been having?' I asked kind of upset that the key looked so silly. I removed the necklace and put it inside the box. I didn't feel anything. This wasn't how the moment should have felt.

Yui seemed to have thought so too for she said, 'Sakura, aren't you happy or something?' 'This isn't the key! I know it.' I said, 'How did you get to know that this could be the key?' She seemed quite irritated, 'The dream I had, was the way, the adventurous way, I discover your key. In my dream, I cross a river and wrestle with a gorilla before I get to our hostel, but then, it was me bending over the bed and taking out the case and...' she said demonstrating. 'So just because you had the dream...' 'I checked as soon as I came, whether there was a box underneath and if it matched the particulars of my dream, so I was quite confident that the key must be inside.' She said and looked at me as though expecting me to go all 'hurray'. I merely said, 'This isn't the key!'

The key was bigger, I suddenly felt, more to be felt rather than seen; it was magnificent and not puny. I didn't say all these, but I merely said, this wasn't the key. 'Of course, this isn't the complete key...,' she went on, 'You're to do something to it to make it work and make Kero-whatever and the other guy appear!' No that made sense; that made too much sense, 'Yes!' I jumped up. Suddenly, I had an image of me making the key come to life. 'Yes! Yes! That's probably it…' I said holding the key in my palm. Suddenly she made a funny noise; I looked up and I saw her trying hard to keep a straight face. She seemed unable to contain whatever it was and said, 'You really believed that?' I felt a part of my inside fall. 'You made it up?' I asked feeling angry. 'Yes!' she laughed. 'I thought, if I could make this much up, why not continue... HA.' She was lying from the start! How could she? How could I have fallen for that knowing it's Yui who's said it? She must've accidentally come across this pendent when she was cleaning or something and she must've made a plan to fool me later on! I was so angry and upset that I walked out of the room.

I walked out of the whole building and into the garden around the building. I was so unbelievably angry with her not only for telling me a lie but also for playing with a subject so delicate, something, which I held so dear to my heart. I'd the box still clutched in my hand. I opened it and wore the chain. Though now I was confident that Yui's dream had nothing to do with me or Clow Reed or anything, I still seemed to believe that the 'key', which I was holding, was the key to many of my doubts. I sat on a bench, very far away from the places usually occupied by people, determined not to see Yui that day. I knew I can't possibly spend the night in the garden, but I was so angry that I stayed for a really long time. It was very cold and I wasn't clad in exactly warm clothes but I was so tired out from the journey and didn't get much rest that I fell asleep.

I woke up after every few minutes, but I was so tired and my back ached where I'd hit the floor, that I couldn't bear the idea of me going back. I curled up each time trying to avoid the cold and with the thought of having a five more minutes of rest. These five minutes continued to... I don't know what. When I woke up, it was all sunlight and I was suddenly horrified by the thought that I'd actually spent a whole night on a bench in the garden. My head ached and I started to sneeze. I seemed to have caught a cold also. I had no idea what time it was and I didn't want to go to my room and see Yui. At that point I felt that she was even more wicked than Guoen. I still had the necklace on and I must've been very weak, since I felt carrying it as a burden. I got up and walked without having any idea where to go.

I thought it was very early in the morning and so it was natural for me to get shocked seeing the clock, as I entered the building - it was 9:30 AM. My classes! I totally forgot. Our classes start by 8 AM. I ran in the direction of my room and as I reached the door, which led to the common room, I heard Yui speak and her voice was coming nearer. She was saying, 'Where is Sakura? She left... If you see her, never mind. I hope she's ok.' To whom she spoke to, I didn't know. I rushed and hid myself as she opened the door. I wasn't going to let her know that I'd come. Let her worry and feel all guilty. After she left, I went in to see Jin. She looked at me brightly and got up and said, 'If you go now you can catch up with Yui. She was so worried. Where have you been?' 'I'm not going after her, neither are you. You're not well?' I asked seeing her nose all red and imagining mine to be so too and my voice was all croaky. She nodded and opened her mouth as if to ask something. I managed to satisfy her curiosity by saying that we had fight.

I was too sick to go and attend the remaining classes, so I stayed in my room all the day. I was asleep when Yui walked at the lunchtime and she woke me up by giving a loud yell. It must've been involuntary, but I was angry for having woken up. 'Where were you?' she asked. 'None of your business!' I wasn't half as angry as what I was a few hours ago, but she had to know at least a fraction of what I'd felt at that moment. I turned my head and tried to sleep again. 'I'm really sorry,' she began, 'I didn't think it'd upset you so much. I actually thought you'd understand that I'm lying, since I'm not the type who...' she trailed off. 'I'm sick and I want to sleep. Can we have this conversation later?' I asked without looking at her. 'Ok, ok.' I turned back when I heard the door close. I was in no position to while away my time by any other activity other than sleep, so I again fell asleep. But this time, it was much longer than the last one.

I woke up in a totally different room. It was very weird. The whole place was so white that I couldn't see anything properly. My bedcovers were white, the curtains were white. And I was wearing white clothes. It didn't take me too long to figure out where I was - in a hospital, presumably the one near the college. I got up and stood up and straightened myself. It was weird - as though I'm standing for the first time in my life. The dress I was wearing was too transparent and was open at undesirable places. This made me stay at bed for some while. But since I didn't hear from anyone, I got up again and walked precariously to the door, or rather a cloth-frame. As I came closer to it a nurse appeared from whatever is beyond that and gasped seeing me up and about.

She held my hands and directed me back to my bed and said, 'You're to stay in bed for another twenty hours. Your friends left only a while ago. You can see them tomorrow!' She smiled at me. 'What time is it?' I asked. 'Eleven thirty!' I was asleep for more than ten hours! She smiled again. Only then I realized what was on her hand - a tray containing all sort of scary-looking instruments. At first she produced a thermometer and asked me to open my mouth. When it was safely tucked under my tongue, she took out a syringe and started filling it up with a golden-coloured solution. To my immense surprise, she took off the needle. She set it aside and took the thermometer from my mouth. She looked at it and merely said that there's nothing to worry and there was something to worry nearly eight hours ago.

I kept wondering where she was going to prick me. But then she lifted my right sleeve. On the bend of my elbow was a cannula fastened by some bandages. She unscrewed one of its two knobs and inserted the mouth of needle-less syringe into it. I didn't feel anything when she emptied the contents into my body. 'Usually we don't do this for our temporary patients, but you had to have drips,' she said pointing to the stand beside my bed from which hung a transparent bag containing saline or glucose or something. Till now she didn't tell me what was wrong with me. I was kind of embarrassed to ask her either.

When she was about to leave I asked her. She said that they'd suspected pneumonia, but it wasn't anything severe and that I must've passed out from general weakness. Also that I'm to feel better the next day. I lay on my bed wondering how I am going to spend the night, for surely I won't be able to sleep as I'd spent almost the whole of the day sleeping. But I was wrong - I slept like anything and woke up only early in the morning, when a nurse, not the one who'd come the last night came and woke me up and said that I'd visitors. Before I could permit, they were let in. They included Yui and Jin. I tried to look cheerful and said, 'Hey!' Yui looked distraught and asked me what I'd done to catch such a severe fever. It was only then I remembered our fight. 'Forget it. Get me out of here,' I pleaded.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: THE DREAM

To my horror, the doctor wanted me under observation for another twelve hours. I made Yui say that we have important exams coming up. He said that I could go, provided I wouldn't stir. 'No classes for three days!' he said specifically. We got off after an hour and she had a cab called and very soon I found myself back in our college campus. I thanked Jin for all her help and we both went to our room. Though I assured Yui that I'd be fine by myself and that I'd take my medicines, she insisted she stay for at least two hours. She said she wanted to talk to me. I knew she was going to apologize and later scold me for spending the night in the open air. Anyway, I let her stay.

'Where were you last night?' she began. 'I was out in the garden,' I said, 'Though I didn't intend on spending the night there.' She looked at me horror-struck. 'Out...? In the night?' she looked at me ludicrously. 'I slept without realizing that I'd wake up only after what... eight hours or so,' I justified. She held my hand and said, 'I'm sorry. I had no idea that you'd be affected so much!' 'Even I didn't think I'd be!' I confessed. It was true, I'd never have thought it possible for me to quarrel with Yui and keep the grudge for so long. I still had this strange hurt sensation. Suddenly I felt for the chain on my neck. She said, 'it's with me,' and took out a purse and produced it from inside. I could've bet my life that the pendant had grown in size. I didn't tell that of course. I began feeling dizzy and she insisted that I sleep after taking antibiotics. And so I did.

Whatever happened afterwards was so strange that I think it wouldn't make any sense on writing. Presumably, Yui left after a while. And I saw Claw Reed again. This time he was all alone - no flying guys or lions. He asked me to follow him. I did. Apparently I followed him by flying. I didn't have wings - I just floated. He took me far into the depths of skies. It was beautiful - blue black sky studded with innumerable stars, of different sizes. Some of them were larger and I could feel their warmth. As I looked around, he called me, 'Sakura, your star is growing stronger. It was asleep all these years, waiting patiently. It needn't wait any longer.' I had a good mind to say that he's been saying this for a long time now and what I was supposed to do. But he was so elegant and big that I didn't have guts to ask him.

'Of course,' he went on, 'No one's expecting you to do everything from the start all by yourself.' 'Then help me,' I said, unable to control myself. 'Hmm,' he looked at me thoughtfully and said, 'I no longer exist in the material world. But there is someone, someone you know.' I held out my chain showing him the pendent dangling from it - 'What does this mean?' 'Your hunch on that had been correct. Follow your heart,' he said and he added pointing to my pendant, 'Your star will lead you!' He drew his arms first close to his body and then swung it apart. The sky with the stars disappeared and so did Clow Reed. The sky became light blue with scattered clouds and I could see treetops. Suddenly images started to move faster with a speed, which I have never experienced before - I was falling!

I landed painfully on the ground. As I lay there half-paralyzed by pain and shock with the fever still clinging to me, I heard someone calling out my name. The voice was panicked - obviously belonged to someone who saw me fall. I was too scared to open my eyes and look who it was. I heard running footsteps, which came closer and closer and came to a halt near me. 'Sakura,' he called me gently. I opened my eyes to see Li. He was leaning over me and touched my face. I must have opened my eyes only a slight bit since he seemed not to have realized that I was conscious. He brushed away the hair off my face and again called my name. I opened my eyes as widely as my strength could muster. He took off his hand and drew back a bit and asked, 'Are you ok?' I don't know how I responded but seeing whatever I did, he said that he should get help.

'No!' I said quickly. How would I explain how I got here and where I fell from? 'Just leave,' I said though I had a good mind to ask his help. 'Of course not! Don't move!' he said. I needn't be told since it was too painful. 'We've got to see if you've broken something.' He asked me to move different parts of my body slowly and see if it was painful. Other than a general pain all over, there was no pain on moving. Supposing there're no broken bones I stood up. I've never felt so shaky and so disoriented in my whole life. Seeing me sway from side to side, Li put an arm around me. With the other hand he caught my wrist and carefully led me to a nearby bench. I looked around - I was in the college grounds. 'How did I get here?' I thought aloud. That's what I was planning to ask you!' 'This is all so weird!' I exclaimed, 'Li, I think we need to talk.' 'Let me take you to your room,' he said getting up.

When we reached our room, I was so exhausted that I fell on my bed and momentarily passed out. I came around immediately and felt a lot better. Li was kneeling on the floor. 'Sit on a chair,' I said. 'Tell me what you wanted to talk about,' he said as he got up and sat on the edge of my bed. 'Who is Clow Reed?' I asked abruptly. 'You know he's my gre-' 'What was he?' I interrupted him. He looked at me for while before answering, 'A Sorcerer!' That explained a lot of things! I suddenly got a mental image of Yui laughing hysterically. 'We only know him from books. They say he handled magic and stuff,' he said looking quite foolish. 'Did you inherit something from him?' I asked. The effect was tremendous - he turned pale and opened his mouth several times 'You mean material...' Seeing my expression he corrected himself and said, 'I'm supposed to have inherited his magical powers!'

I had an urge to get up and pace around the room. The pain didn't allow that though. 'Tell me all you know about Clow Reed!' I demanded. 'Why?' he asked. I didn't answer but he gave me the information all right. 'He was a sorcerer who at first used his powers for himself, you know like evil guys do, but later he realized his faults and tried to undo all the powers he had unleashed.' Li didn't seem to want to talk more of the subject. 'Tell me more. You know more,' I said. 'He couldn't exactly undo, but he managed to control it. He made these powers into some kind of papers or something and preserved it and made two beasts guard it!' 'Yue and Keruberos!' I said abruptly. His eyes nearly popped out, 'How do you...?' But I said, 'Never mind. Go on,'

'These much the books tell us. There's more, which I'm supposed to find out or something,' Li stopped and looked a bit uneasy. 'You know more, tell me,' I said. 'Well, I kind of found out some more stuff,' he said. 'Like, these powers were released by somebody and it's the duty of the capturer to find all of them and turn them back into a paper,' he said and added, 'My mum gives me hints as though I'm supposed to do something about it. Chel supposes that I'm the capturer!' There was a nasty bolt! 'Guoen?' I asked. 'Yeah I kind of told all these stuff way back,' he said rather sheepishly. 'But you're not the captor?' I asked. He looked at me in a weird way and said, 'I have a feeling I'm not.'

'You owe me something Sakura,' he said suddenly. 'What?' I snapped back. 'Why did you ask all these things?' he asked. I told him of my dreams (not all of them) and the weird feeling I got when I saw the picture of Clow Reed in his house. 'And I think your mum and Meiling know me beforehand!' 'I could ask,' he said. 'No,' I had to get up now, 'don't tell anybody. Right now, we have to find out Keruberos and Yue and they'll tell us everything.' He gave a small laugh, 'You don't suppose that all these are for real.' I told him of my latest dream and where I was before I fell down. He argued that it was just a weird dream, but I knew for sure that it wasn't a dream. 'And even if it was, how did I get up from my hostel bed and flew all the way to the college gate?' 'Ok, supposing that there're creatures called Yue and Keruberos, how're we supposed to find them?' he asked. I showed him my pendent and said, 'This'll help.' 'So we have to go to a zoo or something? I've heard that they look weird,' he said automatically.

'These creatures are right now in a different form,' I said feeling quite sure that I have one of them in my room. But I didn't tell him that. 'We have to find out their disguise and use this key and, well… make them show their form,' I said as though I had a thorough idea of what I'm speaking. 'I'm leaving now,' he said getting up, 'Probably you'll see reason once the shock of the fall wears out!' He left after a patronizing smile. I hate him, I thought bitterly. No one seems to want to believe me. I walked to the other end of the room and took Kero. 'Please show yourself, Keruberos,' I said clutching my chain. Probably I'll have to find them out together. I fell into a deep sleep not too later.

I was not able to move at all for nearly two days. I slept all the time. Yui was worried and insisted that I go to the doctor again. What if he finds out the bruises from the fall? That was still a secret, which besides me Li only knew. Yui was better of being ignorant of this incident. Remarkably the sickness and the effects of the fall didn't persist any more than three days. So after four days I was able to go for regular classes. No one other that Cheyen (who says that he visited me three times and I was unconscious) and Yui seems to have missed me. Li had sneaked in two times without Yui catching him the other day. One person was really glad that I was back - Guoen. Back to happy little taunting sessions. The following few days I was busy investigating my little mystery but the only string of hope I had, Li, stubbornly repeated that it's all superstition.

It's nearly four months since I visited Toya last. Ok, not Toya, since I haven't actually seen him in all my previous visits. And I hated to visit. But I had to. I had a phone call from aunt inviting me over. 'It's safe to come, Sakura,' she said, 'Toya is spending the weekend with his friends!' Though there was nothing in store for me I decided to leave. Yui asked why I am sulking. I simply can't bring myself to confess what was going on. I left on a fine Saturday morning and had to take two buses. It's only two miles away from my supposed-to-be-hometown, Tomoeda. The house (my aunt's of course) was as formidable-looking as my aunt and her husband. They says, 'When last Christmas your dad came over...' or 'the other day your dad said this incident...' and 'Sakura, your dad wants you to...' It seems that they see dad all around the year when me, his daughter is unable to settle whether he was bearded or clean-shaven.

That night I stayed at their place. They had arranged a fabulous dinner, even though the only people besides me to eat were aunt, uncle and their ten-year-old, Seiko. She was okay considering being born to such people. She gives me this sympathetic glance whenever I demand to see Toya. Though of late, I've been wondering whether she's cheeking me. We ate quietly. Uncle had arrived late that day so it was the first time he's seeing me properly that day. 'You look a lot worn out. Is it true that you were ill?' he asked. I had told aunt this information over the phone. 'Yes, I was sick and I had a fall,' I said not intending to describe the fall. 'Were you hurt?' Seiko asked. 'Kind of.' That was the end of conversation. They never realize that I can see through this. They occasionally invite me to a fabulous dinner just to satisfy their guilt that they're not avoiding the younger child of their provider.

I couldn't eat through the whole course. Let them think that I didn't like the food. I got up though I was only half full. I grunted an excuse-me and went upstairs without offering help to clean up (though they had a maid). I went to the guest room where I had kept my things and just sat on the bed thinking of Toya. On my previous visits, Toya would be at least in the building and I had the pleasure of knowing that I'm 'living' with my brother. But that day, I felt that I'll never see him again. I nearly jumped hearing the commotion from downstairs. People were speaking loudly. I was sure that aunt and uncle had company. I rushed down the stairs and I didn't have to climb down the whole flight of stairs to see who was there. It was Toya.

He was speaking loudly, almost shouting at my uncle. There were other people about his age there. I soon lost sight of him when a burly guy blocked my view. Toya called the guy something and he let out a porky laugh and sat down on a chair and began helping himself to the dessert. Toya whirled around smiling. I could hear somewhere in the background uncle and aunt shouting, 'Toya go away. No, no!' For a moment we saw each other. I couldn't help smiling. But he looked shocked. At first he looked as though he might smile when he gets over the shock. But then it changed to that of horror and he got up and hurried out of the room unnoticed by his greedy friends. I remember me being rushed upstairs by my angry aunt. I could hear uncle shout Toya's name following him wherever he'd disappeared to. Aunt kept pushing me till I reached my room. She shoved me inside and locked the door and said, trying to sound kind, 'This is for Toya.'

This all happened so quickly that I didn't get much time to react. I sat down and I tried to decipher the meaning of horror, which I beheld on my brother's gaunt face. What did it mean? Was it true, then, that he hates the idea of me being there and the mere sight of me makes him sick? I could hear more shouts from downstairs, but I was certain that Toya was silent. I decided to go to sleep. I didn't even try to open the door. I couldn't sleep properly. I was determined not to feel sorry for myself so I kept thinking about college, Yui, Cheyen and, though I didn't want to admit it then, Li. He had wormed his way into my list of friends. And as I usually do, I didn't feel it as a privilege (the way I did when Yui and Cheyen first went to movies with me) but rather a right. Trying my maximum to push out Toya from my head, I slept. I had a disturbed sleep and I dreamt Li apologizing for not having believed me and that he'll help me find Yue and Keruberos if it was the last thing he did. Oh, by the way he had cat-ears protruding from among his unruly hair and a long striped tail.

In the morning, I went automatically to the door and tried the knob. It was open. I got dressed and went downstairs to see the servants buzzing around cleaning up last night's mess. I went to the living room, where I found aunt and uncle. I had obviously run into an important conversation for they seemed to have stopped suddenly. 'Er... Sakura, hope you had a full night's sleep,' aunt said. I couldn't believe it. They're trying to behave normally, after having locked me in my room for a whole night. 'I'm leaving by nine thirty train,' I answered abruptly and turned back to the entrance. 'You can leave in the afternoon, after lunch,' said my aunt. 'No, thank you,' I said without looking at her. 'We haven't promised anybody to humor you, you arrogant girl!' uncle nearly shouted. He didn't stop, 'Leave if you want to! So much the better,' saying this, he walked past me and disappeared from the room. Aunt followed his suit. I immediately gathered all my stuff just changed my blouse and got out of that wretched house as early as eight thirty.

I was thrown out of my uncle's house! He was right, they had promised to dad to look after my brother, not me. It was out of charity that once in a while I was admitted into that wretched house. The thought made me sick. I went to the railway station and decided to wait. I did not want to take two buses. I waited on a bench near the platform. I felt sickened at what had happened that day and the day before. How could bad things happen one after the other so fast? I waited and waited only to hear an announcement that the train I am waiting for is twenty minutes late. I nearly laughed. As time passed by my mood was lightened a bit and I bought coffee in a paper cup and savored every moment of it - I hadn't had breakfast. Someone called my name so loudly and from so near that I nearly spilled the coffee all over me from the shock. I turned around to see Meiling.

She seemed very happy to see me, though I was still a bit shaken. I got up and walked towards her or rather moved towards her. She wasn't alone; there were two people with her. One was a girl in her early teens and the other was Mrs. Li. They were going to pay a surprise visit to Li and came to board the train. I was quite surprised that people so rich travel by train. The girl was another cousin of Li. Li was sort of her godfather though they've never met. She insisted on seeing him. I was quite glad that I had company. They asked me what I was doing there. 'I'm returning from an overnight visit at my uncle's,' I didn't feel like describing what happened there. 'How long have you been waiting?' Meiling asked as we proceeded towards the bench on which I was sitting. I automatically blurted out, 'An hour and a half!' Before they could ask me why I came that early, I pointed out that our train had arrived.

We didn't chat during the journey maybe because it was rather short. We boarded a taxi from the station and reached our college within fifteen minutes. I waved them goodbye as I headed towards ladies hostel. I wondered, on my way to my room, whether I should've invited them over to our place. With these thoughts I reached my room. I nearly screamed seeing Yui's head swaying as though a pendulum in front of me, as I entered our bedroom. She jumped down and apologized for the shock. She wanted to increase the blood flow to her head in this manner. 'Why're you back so early?' she asked. 'I left early,' I stopped it there and asked whether I should've invited Mrs. Li and her nieces. 'Of course, you should have!' she said reproachfully. 'I'll go...' she rushed towards the door and then hesitated and started to limp. 'My ankle hurts, you go!' she limped back to the bed.

I knew she was pretending but nevertheless, I thought it was my duty to go. I started to get nervous, not exactly because of having to see Li again, but for the mere fact that it's the first time I'm going to the men's hostel. Probably they wouldn't be there. They'd have left to some restaurant or movie. What if I see Tetsuya Benz? I shuddered as I entered the huge building; its entrance bore a huge statue of a man fighting a dragon. That was the sole reception committee. We have a live young woman behind a desk. She might be less fanciful, but much more informative. I suddenly remembered that I had no idea, which room Li boarded. A stench wafted - I turned around to see two huge sweating bodies, one with a football cradled on his arm. They passed by me and one looked down at me as though I'm a bit of dirt stuck on the highly polished floor.

I followed my instincts to get to Cheyen's room - it had a 1 and a 7 and other stuff. His roomy, a nice fellow from the third year answered that he wasn't there and that Li was exactly three rooms to the right. I didn't have to knock - the whole party had come outside - obviously heading somewhere. Li smiled at me warmly and then looked a bit alarmed. He got over it quickly and all the four looked at me questioningly - what are you doing here? Ok, I should've rehearsed this part or at least ask Yui what to ask. 'I... I came here to ask if you'd like to visit me and Yui (who is injured at the ankle),' and as the looked doubtful, 'over at our room - in the ladies hostel!' 'Oh,' Mrs. Li said, 'we'd like that.' The smallest of the party gave a disappointed grunt. We stood there awkwardly staring at each other for a while at the end of which Li lead the way.

As we walked out of the hostel and into our hostel, Li hung behind to catch up with me. 'Shall I tell mum about Yue and Keruberos and the key?' It took me a while to figure out that he was being cheeky. I didn't reply. He abandoned me and walked with Meiling. I opened the door, which led to our room praying that Yui will be seen limping. Thank God, she wasn't there. I excused myself and as I went to the bedroom, Mrs. Li kindly said that if Yui is too sick to move, she'll come and see her in the bedroom. 'Oh no, she wouldn't mind,' I said to which Li retorted, 'I bet she wouldn't!' Yui was reading a book. 'Come out, and pretend you've got a hurt ankle,' I whispered to her. We didn't exactly have a jolly time since all of us were embarrassed for different reason, except the little twerp, who made impatient grunts whenever the silence persisted more than she could bear. This procedure extended till the girl, whose name sounded like 'Please' said, 'Sayoran, I thought you're going to take us to the movies.' Even though all seem to acknowledge her rudeness, all welcomed this idea whole-heartedly.

'So, what was your object of inviting them here?' Yui asked me quite angrily (at least her face was screwed up). 'My object? Who'd insisted on this idea? You told me...!' I started though I began to feel that she was pulling my leg. 'Moi!' her eyebrows lifted gracefully in mock surprise, 'I do not recollect of having said anything of that sort. Probably a dementia due to the twisted ankle. Oh the agony...' she giggled. 'Your mind is twisted,' I said quite annoyed. 'I wanted to see them all right,' she said smiling, 'It's just you seemed to want to please that old girl so much...! And she seems so fond of you. What's going on?' 'What?' I was quite confused; where was she getting? 'It's like she's related to you or something,' she said grinning. I thought that it's safe to leave her lest she jump into unlikely conclusions.

I went outside to see Jin. She was reading a book. She was a peaceful character and I felt quite peaceful when I'm sitting near her. I sat there thinking of what exactly Yui meant. Yui hadn't followed me so I had the freedom to think of whatever I fancied, unbiased. It seemed that she didn't really mean to have them invited, at least for her sake, she wanted to observe the interaction between Mrs Li and myself. It was all very confusing. Suddenly I recollected me falling from a great height and Li coming to help me. I wondered whether he had told that incident to anybody. Whatever! I then remembered the humiliating events, which took place earlier that morning. And then what had happened last night. I saw again and again Toya's face - wide-eyed with an emotion, I can't really explain. To my surprise my eyes started to well up. Last thing I wanted was to cry in front of Jin. The moment I got outside the building, I started to cry. Anxious that no one must behold me crying I hurried towards the ominous bench (upon which I'd spent a night in the near past). I was literally bawling by then. And I was more than just shocked to see Cheyen sitting on the bench with a thick book he had been reading till then. Till he saw me.

It was too late. 'Sakura!' he rushed towards me. I tried to swallow all the weird sensations which one gets while crying and smiled at him. 'Are you all right?' he asked. 'Yeah, I...' well what should I say. 'Why're you crying?' he asked. I went towards the bench and sat down. He sat beside me. I told him what had happened that day and the night before. It was the first time I'd said anything regarding my brother to another person. He looked shocked. 'You have a brother?' he said. 'Where's Yui?' he asked. I knew that this didn't mean anything romantic. I told him of the visitors we'd had. Though Cheyen no longer had any emotional inclination towards Guoen, he still disliked Li.

We sat there for a while and when I felt a bit better and when it started to get a bit dark, we rose. As we walked, I thanked him for listening to me patiently. He remained quiet for a while and then said, 'From what Yui speaks of you and what I've seen, I got the idea that you're the type who never cries!' 'You're wrong then,' I said feeling a bit disappointed in spoiling such a cool rep. I thanked him again and as I walked inside the hostel, I saw Yui coming out. Seeing me she ran towards me and nearly hugged me, 'Oh girl, I thought you were going to spend this night out in the wilderness. I can't say anything to you nowadays!' I assured her that it has nothing to do with what she had said.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: FINDING YUE

I couldn't bring myself to relate everything that had passed to Yui. She wasn't that pushy either. Feeling a bit embarrassed that Cheyen had to find that out (and that too in such a manner), I went to bed earlier than usual thinking I'd be tired. But I couldn't sleep. Or rather I slept fitfully. After a few hours of tossing and turning, I finally fell asleep. I didn't get any peace for I had a dream. The silvery man with wings was there. He came close and was smiling. He told me that everything will be soon put right. And that we'll soon meet.

I had hoped that something curious might happen the next day but nothing happened. I felt quite dejected. I expected at least a fall from heaven; preferably someone other than me. The pain of the last fall hadn't had completely worn out. Yui was behaving cautiously as though one remark and I might run out of the room. I appreciated that though. We had a lot of homework that night and as we both settled down with our homework, Yui said, 'Li was looking for you today.' 'Oh. Why?' I really hadn't had missed him. 'I don't know. He said that he might drop in tonight,' she said trying her maximum to suppress a giggle. We went back to our work silently. Through all the recent events, I had completely forgotten that our third semester exams were approaching fast. I felt totally lost. I was never bad in studies and had never failed in any exams in my life and I was quite sure that my first failure would be sooner than I had expected. With these thoughts I tried to push out Yue, Reed and Li out of my mind and concentrate on my work. When we were almost done, someone knocked. It was Li. As soon as he saw me he said he wanted to talk to me, 'Now. Alone!' His eyes were red and his hair all messy (messier than usual) and he had his fists clenched tightly as though he planned on attacking me.

'If he attempts anything, just yell,' Yui said half-joking as she went out. He didn't speak for a while even after Yui was completely out of the way. 'What's the matter?' I asked. He rubbed his eyes and sat down on the sofa. I sat down beside him. 'It seems,' he sighed, 'that all the crap you'd told that day is true!' I knew what he meant and felt sympathetic at the same time felt an evil satisfaction seeing his tortured expression. 'What makes you say so?' 'My mother told me. Apparently she knew all these,' he gave a small laugh and said, 'Tell me that we're all nuts! Please.' 'How does she know?' I asked. He totally ignored this and went on, 'Or all of us are raving mad. Till yesterday morning, I thought that the only loonies were you and Clow Reed! Now my whole family. Flying people, magic cards. What'd I hear next - Dragons?' He went on ranting. I couldn't take it anymore. I held him by the shoulders and shook him, 'Tell me what she said to you!' Why doesn't he understand this is important? 'She said that there's a card captor to catch those wild cards. It's our duty, apparently, either to catch the cards or find the card captor!'

'Why do you say, it's _our_ duty?' I asked. He looked at me and said with some hesitation, 'I told her about your fall and the conversation we've had. She says that these were the methods by which Clow Reed selected people to do... to do his stuff!' Suddenly it occurred to me - Li was the descendent of the man himself. He may be the card captor. As though reading my thoughts he said, 'I don't think that I am a captor. I think we have to find him. May be you are the one!' 'We need to find Yue,' I simply knew that we had to do that anyway. 'What about Keruberos?' he asked. I didn't say anything. I smiled and asked, 'Is that all you've come for?' He looked at me as though my head is on fire. 'Yeah, I'm going.'

For nearly two weeks we were bent on following most of the abnormal-looking men in the college asking them weird questions. We also had great opportunities laughing at the other regarding their selections. For instance, I was sure that our guy was Tai Dee. This created a bout of hysterical laughter from Li. Anyway, I interviewed him in our dorm. It went something like this: I invited him to our dorm saying that Yui had asked for him. He easily fell for this and came with me. I made him sit on the sofa apologizing for Yui's thoughtlessness on doing a last minute disappearing act. 'I'm sure she'll be back within a few minutes,' saying this I went inside the bedroom to fetch Kero. This must have looked stupid. I placed Kero as near to Tai Dee as it was possible without him seeing what I had placed near him.

Even though he didn't see me bring a winged stuffed toy in, he had noticed that I was behaving strangely. I smiled reassuringly at his nearly-scared-looking face and clutched the pendent, which I had worn and closed my eyes trying to concentrate. Yes, it was a laughable scene, but I thought I was heading in the right direction. I was successful in concentrating real hard for I realized Tai Dee had left only when I heard the door slam. Of course I had to bear taunting from Li throughout the week (Tai Dee and Li are pretty close friends). Tai Dee even suggested a therapist and confessed that he's pretty scared to say this to me - says Li.

There's something, which I had omitted deliberately, for it makes me feel like a faithless friend. We didn't say any of these things to Yui. She had expressed curiosity when Li made his frequent visits. But I managed to subdue her with vehement lies which mainly involved Mrs. Li. Later, I told Li that he shouldn't come so very often to talk to me. 'We have to keep it a secret. Not even Yui should know of it,' I said. His eyes widened, 'You haven't told Yui?' This was something for me to get my eyes widened out - 'Did you?' 'Oh no,' he said and after some reflection, 'Though she had asked me occasionally and said something related to mum...' 'She wouldn't understand. No one would!' I said remembering my night out. 'Except Chel,' he said almost in a whisper.

I couldn't really accept that. Why should she be involved? And I was sure that she merely pretended to understand to get Li's and his family's attention. 'And your mom!' I added. 'And Meiling!' he said. Meiling seemed more like a cheerleader rather than a captor. 'Why is she involved?' I asked. 'She's my mum's brother's daughter - a direct descendent of Clow Reed. So there's every probability that she's a captor!' he said. 'Is she your fiancée?' I asked though I knew that it's rather personal a question. 'Yes and no!' I must have raised my eyebrows because he gave an explanation only after he looked at me; 'It was the wish of our grandfather that we should marry when we are older. This was done when we were two. But he later thought it unnecessary.' I couldn't resist so I said, 'Because you had chosen Guoen by then?' He cleared his throat and said that he'd better leave.

He acted strangely for a few days whenever I was around. I had a feeling that he didn't approve of the last question. I wanted to apologize or give an explanation or something but I didn't. And besides Guoen was always there. She obviously wasn't told about my involvement but she understood that Li and I were on better terms now. So she did her best to interfere whenever we got to talk to each other. During one lab, she accused me of trying to steal Li from her. 'I needn't really worry about something from Li's part,' she paused to add, 'But it is a very nasty business trying to interfere in our conversations!' And after a few minutes, 'Li maybe very polite and may sound interested, but, as he tells me so frequently, you gets on his nerves!' I knew there was little truth in what she had said, but it hurt nevertheless.

Though our professors were back, the juniors hung around making us do extra problems. Some students accused that they were trying to get us do what they're not able to do. One of the senior students, Yukito Tsukishiro, was good enough to admit that. He had asked me to do some problems, which I was successful in completing. 'Wow,' he said and looking at my nametag, 'Really you must be a genius, Sakura!' I tried to look modest; for I really was - that was the first time I'm getting a problem from that portion correct. 'You must really try and write PCAT. I think you have a lot of potential,' he went on making me quite red on the face. He looked at me for a while and smiled at me. He looked very cute. After sometime he said, 'I like you so much that I'm going to give you a little treat!'

He went to his desk leaving me at the entrance of the classroom full of hope. Many things flashed through my mind - was he going to ask me out? Maybe he went to get some tickets for a concert? What would be the reaction of the girls, especially Guoen, when they get to know that I was asked out by a cute master-degree student? While I was reveling in these thoughts he returned with a book large enough to concuss a hippopotamus. 'There you go, Sakura!' he handed me that hardbound book on which was printed: OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS ON MATHEMATICS, PCAT. This was his treat! He was looking at my face hopefully; what was he expecting, me to whoop and jump? 'Thanks, Mr. Tsukishiro,' I said trying to sound ecstatic. 'No problem, I'd brought this book when I was doing your year. I prepared for PCAT three years in a stretch, but something or the other came up and I was not even able to sit for the exam. Now that I'm doing masters on this college, I decided I might donate this book!'

'There are a few questions which I couldn't answer. Yes, I'd tried out the whole book. These questions are marked red,' he said and bend down to bring his face quite close to mine and said, 'Find them out... for me!' and smiled and made his exit. I went back into the classroom to sit for our next class. But my mind was elsewhere - some street decorated on each side by huge trees and a boy wearing school uniform running towards me. He stopped and threw something towards me. I caught it - it was candy. I looked back to thank him - at his place was the tall silvery creature of my dreams - Yue. The boy had been Mr. Tsukishiro.

By then we were on our seats waiting for our Physics professor. I tore a page from my notes and scribbled down a note, which went something like this: Come to the hostel for seniors by nine pm and wait near the gate for me. Don't ask me anything during class hours as Guoen is keeping a watch on us! Something wicked dawned to me then. I passed this note to a guy just behind me, who was sitting to the left of Guoen and I brandished the note as I passed it to him and asked him to pass it to Li. She obviously saw me dispatching the note and Li receiving it. I didn't look back to see Li's expression. But I was sure that he wouldn't show it to Guoen, even if she blackmailed him, since the letter makes her think that he's double-crossing her. I felt ecstatic imagining her fury when he refuses.

We must pay for our wrongdoings and I paid dearly for my latest 'evil-act'. As we went out of our class, Guoen followed me closely and grabbed my arm from behind so tightly that it hurt. 'What was the letter that you had passed to Sayoran?' she hissed into my ear. I wrenched my arm away and said, enjoying a bit, 'None of your business!' 'I'll tell you... it is my business!' While she groped for really strong words I said, 'Why don't you ask Li?' I looked around for him; he wasn't there - he had managed to escape! I smiled at her and walked away. I couldn't think of anything but the interview with Yukito that night. I picked up the essentials - my necklace, Kero (hid in my handbag) and a really thick sweater, and went out when Yui went to the bathroom. I even wrote a note saying that I'll be back within a few hours and not to worry. As I made my way to the hostel, which was farther from our hostel than the men's hostel, I had a strange feeling that I was being followed. I thought that Guoen must have decided to find out, so in order to lead her to a wrong path, I entered the woods bordering the men's hostel. Once I got the heart of the woods, I realized what was following me. How I wished it was Guoen!

Three masked men wearing black sweaters were standing before me. I couldn't believe that I myself lead me into such a trap. 'Hello Sakura,' one of the guys greeted me. It sounded awfully familiar but I couldn't really identify. He must be a classmate of mine. So this was Guoen's doing. 'Chel asked us a favor today, and we decided to oblige!' one of them said and they laughed hysterically. I was so scared that I couldn't move even when one of them charged at me real fast and grabbed me by the arm. He was by no means gentle and brought me against a tree. By this time the others had closed in and the familiar-one said, 'Let this be a lesson to you!' I don't know how I go the guts but before I could stop myself I said, 'You're a bunch of losers doing chores like this for a girl who doesn't give a damn for you!'

Even though the guy nearest me was wearing a mask, I could see that he was angry. He brought his hand to my neck and dug his nails into my skin and ripped off a good portion of the right sleeve. He bend his head on my bare skin. I wanted to scream but no sound came out of my throat. I must do something, I kept telling my seemingly inert brain. I summoned all the force I had and kneed the guy right where he would last want me to. He yelped and let go. Before him or the other two could pounce on me, I ducked and crawled my way out between their legs. They were following me closely. I was able to run with remarkable speed and I could see a faraway streetlight - I was almost out of the woods!

Then I realized that my handbag wasn't with me. Kero! It was downright stupid, but my mission is useless without him. I turned back and with the same speed ran right towards the guys who were approaching me at breakneck speed. This startled them and they stopped abruptly. I took my chance and went right through two of them back to the dear old tree. I found my bag; I took it back and was horrified to see them too close for comfort. I can't go the same way now; they'll definitely catch me. I ran in the same direction as I had come. There was no sign of any form of civilization. I ran for a really long time and I was very much exhausted. I realized that I was slowing down. I could hear footsteps behind me, they were very close. I screamed for help though I was quite sure that I won't be heard. To my surprise someone answered back. Actually I could hear a lot of people asking: where was that from? I think it's over there? What's a girl doing over there at this time of the night?

I couldn't go any further. I collapsed on to the ground and the running steps were closer by the second. So were the noises. I didn't turn back but my attackers turned back as they saw lights besides voices. I picked myself up and walked to the direction of light. I soon came to a fence separating the woods from a plot of land. There was nobody there. I jumped to the other side with great difficulty and slouched on not knowing where I'm heading. I soon came to see a large building at the entrance of which stood Li with his head bend. 'Li!' I shouted at the top of my voice as he was quite far away. He saw me and came running. I was standing till now and before he came near, my knees gave way and I fell on all fours. Li sat on his knees beside me. When I looked at him he gave a small cry.

'What happened to you?' he asked me horrified. You girlfriend send thugs after me - was something which I'd have loved to say but when I came to think of the consequences, I shut up and said, 'Some guys followed me on my way here. And one of them did this...' I pointed to my ripped off sleeve. Only then had I looked what had really happened. There were teeth marks besides scratch marks on my shoulders. I felt sick and thought I might throw up. Li brought his hands towards me as though to hug me but thought better off it. 'Are you ok now?' he asked. 'Yes! Though I'm exhausted from the running,' I said. 'How did you escape?' he asked as he helped me to my feet. I managed to smile and said, 'Ran like hell.'

I told him why I had send him the message, regretting again and again me showing off to Guoen, and waved off the suggestion that we put this off to another day. Besides it was nearly ten by then. He gave me his over coat which I put on and buttoned right up to the root of my neck to hide the marks. He kept looking at me as though he need do something; but really, insisting to take me to hospital was totally unnecessary. Anyway after a laborious walk (laborious for me), we got to see Tsukishiro. He was in their study deeply engrossed in a large blue book. He looked up and smiled. 'Hello Sakura!' I felt thrilled to see that he remembered my name. He came over, 'You're... Li, aren't you?' And so ended my thrill; he seemed to know everybody. Li seemed surprised that Tsukishiro knew him. Suddenly he put on his glasses and gave me a penetrating look and asked, 'Are you all right Sakura? You look exhausted!' 'We wanted to talk to you,' Li said quite abruptly. 'Sure,' he said smiling at me a bit slyly. 'Somewhere private!' 'Oh,' his expression changed as Li's words penetrated.

He led us to his room (for which we had to climb another flight of steps). As soon as we were seated, he asked us what was that which we wanted to tell. We looked each other. What would we tell? That do you know about some Clow cards? Or show yourself, Yue! Or tell us about card captors? Li began, 'Mr. Tsukishiro, we have come to talk about something which you may feel hard to believe but we have enough proof...' I interrupted, 'Have you ever been to Tomoeda?' He looked surprised and nodded, 'As a matter of fact I spend my high school days there! How did you come to know?' 'I've spend a good deal of my life there. I thought that we might have met. I seem to know you,' I went on. 'Do you?' he seemed very happy, 'Can you tell me...? Never mind. You see, I don't really remember much about the time I've spend there!' That does it; all the people involved in this mess have their memories messed up. I took out Kero.

This surprised both of them a lot. 'What're you doing?' Li whispered to my ear. 'Oh,' I said forgetting that he didn't know about Kero, 'This is Kero!' 'No, you don't think he is...!' he said laughing. 'What's going on?' Tsukishiro asked getting up to scrutinize the toy I was holding. 'Please sit down, Mr. Tsukishiro,' I said trying not to sound offensive. He didn't sit, he looked a bit aggressive. I grabbed the pendant and prayed to God that something happens and Yue would reveal himself. Instead Tsukishiro charged at me saying, 'Is this some kind of joke?' But the moment he was near me he gave out a sigh, as though his life was escaping from him and he slid down and fell flat on the floor. 'Oh my God!' Li was down beside Tsukishiro trying to get any sign of life. 'What's happened? Sakura?' he looked up and I saw horror on his face.

I too felt the horror as some light began to emanate from me. No, not from me, but from the ground on which I was standing. My hand wrapped upon the pendant was shaking. I let go of it. It slid out of my hand and stopped midair where it began to grow. I feel stupid writing this but it was anything but stupid to watch. It grew to become what which can be called a staff. It was as long as me with a brilliant winged star on one end. We both watched the staff as it stood there, midair, glowing. After a long pause, Li said, 'Hold it!' 'No, you hold it!' I said. 'I shouldn't hold it, you should!' he yelled. I was so frozen that I barely managed to extend a shaking hand towards the pendent. The moment my fingers wrapped around the metal, it began to emit more light and the whole room seemed to whirl. I screamed as I let go of the staff. The whirling stopped and I felt too heavy to support myself and I fell on the floor beside the unconscious Tsukishiro.

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was the stricken face of Li. His skin was white as paper. I couldn't immediately recollect anything which had happened earlier. 'What happened?' I asked as I let him help me to my feet. 'This has happened...' he said waving a hand towards the other side of the room, where stood the two creatures, which had visited my dreams so many times. I gave a little scream. Only then it dawned to me that I had come here for this. 'Sakura, it has been so long!' the lion spoke. Ok, speaking lions, light from floor, Tsukishiro to Yue... yes I was once again in my dreams. As though to remove my doubts, Li grabbed my arm and squeezed it painfully. It was evident that Li was as scared as I was. I couldn't speak. Keruberos spoke again, 'Do you know why you have summoned us?' I shook my head, as I didn't seem to have a voice. Now Yue spoke, 'Keruberos and I, the beasts created by Clow Reed, have been summoned to assist you, Sakura, the chosen card captor!'

So I was indeed the card captor. By the way, what was a card captor? Why should I catch cards of all the things? I couldn't think anything then. I felt a bit stupid and the reasoning part of my brain seems to have vanished, 'Cards? Playing cards?' I said and I laughed. Li stared at me quite sure that I'd flipped. 'You have captured all the Clow cards nearly eight years back and converted them into cards which draw powers from your star rather than from Clow Reed's. You made the cards your own,' Yue explained. 'And that's a bad thing?' I asked. 'No, no...' the lion seemed more of a human than the human-looking Yue, 'Since you have been removed from the cards for such a long time, they're deteriorating. You have to rejuvenate them!' 'And if I don't...?' I asked the dullness persisting, 'they'll die and so will we!'

'I'm going home! I don't give a damn about you or the stupid cards,' I said as I went towards the door. 'Sakura!' Li called as he grabbed my arm and made me stay, 'She'll listen. She's had a bad day, that's all!' he explained to them. 'Come here tomorrow at this time!' Yue commanded. 'Why should we do that...?' I asked. Li placed a hand on my face and turned my chin away to prevent me from speaking anything else. 'We'll come, definitely!' And as we watched, Keruberos transformed into the winged teddy bear and Yue spoke before he transformed, 'No word to Yukito. He doesn't know who he is. I will tell him when the time comes.' Then he closed his wings around him just as Kero did and when the wings disappeared Yukito lay on the floor. He was breathing heavily and it took a few seconds before he came around. By then, Li had picked up Kero from the floor and put it in my bag.

'What's happened?' Tsukishiro asked as he stood up. Before I could say something stupid, Li spoke, 'I don't know, when we were talking you collapsed. It's been only a few seconds!' 'Really? The last I remember is Sakura holding a teddy bear!' he looked as though he doubted his own sanity. 'Teddy bear?' Li gave a forced laugh and said, 'You need rest. Try sleeping early and there'll be no more passing outs or hallucinations.' Tsukishiro had picked up his glasses and was looking around carefully and said something like, 'Right.' 'So, we'll be going,' Li said as he pushed me towards the door. 'Wait, you came here for?' 'Oh, it can wait!' And we were out. At first Li suggested that he'd leave me near the men's hostel but when I tried to kiss a rose bush, he decided that he'd take me all the way to my room.

I don't really remember much. I think I went to sleep as soon as I reached dorm and didn't know what explanation Li gave Yui for bringing me at eleven thirty at night. When I woke up in the morning, I began to rush through the morning routine to get to college so that I wouldn't have to be subjected to Yui's questioning but 'Today's Saturday' she pointed out. 'What happened last night?' she asked. 'Didn't Li tell you?' I asked not really sure what to say. 'What's your story? I was worried sick. Just a note at eight thirty at night saying that you'll be back within a few hours?!' she took up the tigress attitude which she hadn't had assumed for a long time then. 'I felt dizzy and I couldn't do what I went to do and somewhere on the way Li found me and brought me here!' I said. Her expression changed; good God, Li must've said something else. But she said, 'That much I know from Li,' whew, 'how did you get dizzy?' I wanted to tell her the real thing but wasn't she the one who mocked me a few days ago regarding the subject. Why should I tell her? 'None of your business!' She looked a bit surprised and after a while said, 'Fine.'

We didn't talk much that day and we did our assignments independently and I even tried out some of the problems from Tsukishiro's book. I may not get PCAT but it might prove useful for the sessionals, which was only a week away. After a while, Yui went out probably to avoid my company. After she left my mind was totally focused on working out the problems, that within half an hour I was able to solve a whole exercise. After this half hour I was disturbed by an incessant coughing of unknown origin. At first it didn't bother me but after a while as it grew louder and more frequent, it began to spook me. I decided to explore. I went out to see the hall empty. I looked out of the window to see absolutely nobody. The sound was indeed coming from somewhere inside the room. To be more precise, my handbag. I looked inside quite frightened and was much horrified to see little Kero inside smiling at me. 'Finally you heard me!'

I gave out a little cry and jumped back. 'Don't be frightened. You weren't frightened the first time you saw me!' he said as he flew out of the bag. 'What are you?' I asked though I had a pretty good idea. 'Keruberos. Your Kero. We used to be friends, you know?' he said laughing out a bit. 'You mean, you used to fly around like this before?' I asked. 'Yeah, all this time, I had to pretend that I'm just a toy. When you were an active card captor, I used to be with you all the time!' He then assumed a serious tone, almost melancholic and said, 'I know that your memory had been erased, but it was for your own good. You powers had to mature while you should remain unaware of all this. Clow Reed also...' 'My memories were erased?' I asked horrified. 'Yes.' 'By whom?' 'By the power vested in Yue and me,' he said looking a bit anxious. 'You erased my memory?' I asked and caught the little creature and shook it vigorously.

'Hey, let me go!' he escaped from my grip and flew around as I tried to grab it, 'I had to. Please forgive us Sakura. Watch the tail!' Though I felt angry I saw his point. 'So, why am I the captor and not a family member of Clow Reed, for instance Li?' Kero screwed up his face and said, 'Oh that rat of a kid. I was hoping I'd never have to see him again. But here he is...!' 'You know Li?' I asked. 'You don't remember, do you? Oh yes. You used to be friends. And at first there was a competition as to who is the captor and finally you were selected, hah!' he whooped. He was my friend! A friend I didn't remember... 'Can you tell me about my friends?' I asked. Kero came to the level of my face and sat with knees bent before me and said, 'Sayoran Li, was powerful but he wasn't the chosen one. Though I never personally liked the kid, he was ok. He had saved your life many times (so have you saved his) and he even helped you convert two powerful cards to star cards,' he paused and smiled at me and said, 'He adored you!'

'And then there was Tomoyo. She was cool. She used to capture all the adventures you had on a - oh, what do you call it, the thing with an eye, ah yes - a camera. She used to like me a lot and took a lot of my...' he went on. I was still caught up with what he had said earlier that Li used to be my friend and by the sound of it, a really good friend. I tried not to think of it but he did say that Li had adored me! 'And she even used to climb up the roof to get a picture of you flying.' 'I can fly?' I asked fascinated. 'Yes, if you really should, you can do absolutely anything!' Suddenly we heard the handle of the door. Kero dropped from where he was floating and fell onto the sofa with a slight plop. Yui walked in and looked suspiciously at Kero and me. 'Playing with your dolls?' she asked trying to sound friendly. Ok, so ended a quarrel. I had wanted to ask many things to Kero but now that Yui was in, I'd better not.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: TOYA AND YUKITO**

That night too I planned on writing a note and disappearing while Yui was in the toilet. But this time I was caught. The moment I caught hold of the doorknob Yui spoke from somewhere behind, 'Ha, caught you!' I tried to remain calm and said, 'So, what're you going to do about it?' even though I wanted to say: let me go, let me go, let me go! 'Ask for an explanation!' she said. Something wild came to my head, 'I'm going on a date!' She raised her eyebrows to a height she'd never raised before and said, 'Stop kidding me!' I pretended to be offended and said, 'Seriously; you think me incapable of dating?' 'So yesterday also you were on such a date?' she asked. 'Yes,' I said feeling a bit happy at my quick thinking. 'So your date got you drunk and left you on the road after giving you this,' she said pointing to the teeth mark on my shoulder. Till now I'd managed to hide it from her but the dress I was wearing then was a bit open-necked.

'This,' I said covering the bite mark hastily, 'has another explanation which I'm not going to provide, and my date is Yukito Tsukishiro and it is not exactly a date. He had given me this text,' and I explained all about it and said, 'He had asked me to go to him if I've any doubts.' 'Where does the hickie come in?' she asked. I pretended to get hurt and went out. As I did, I picked up the book in order to avoid any suspicions. I was careful to walk with the crowd in case my attackers were lurking around. I'd left early so naturally I arrived early. The hall was crowded and being among people, some of them who had given us some lectures, I felt safe. I saw Tsukishiro in a corner reading a big book. What's the deal with the big books? 'Sakura? What're you doing here?' he asked. It was funny being asked this by the same person who had asked us to come. 'Oh, I'd come to see you,' I said holding out the book and said, 'I have some doubts.' 'Really?' his face brightened, 'Come to study hall then.' I'd have loved to suggest his room, in case Yue wants to show up early, but I didn't want him to misunderstand.

I pointed out some problems randomly, most of which I had solved successfully and while we were solving a particularly nasty one, Tsukishiro asked, 'I can't remember why you two came to my room yesterday. You said you want to talk something private, didn't you?' 'Yes... and no,' I said taking as much time as possible to cook up a decent story when Li walked in. 'Oh, hello Li. What brings you here?' he asked. Li became a little flustered and smiled and said, 'Sakura asked me to.' Great, again I have to provide the explanation, 'I thought this might help him either. He had missed the first few classes.' I wanted to shake my own hand on this brilliant explanation. 'You have? Then come on, sit.' I was sure that Li was wondering the same as I: how to get Tsukishiro to his room? When it was nearly nine, Li said, 'I did a few questions from the Strom text and I was unable to answer some of them. Could you help me? Oh shoot! I didn't bring the text,' he whacked his own head very realistically. 'No sweat, I have it with me. It's in my room though. Why don't we all go up there?'

'Way to go!' I whispered to Li as we climbed up the stairs. After we had entered the room and closed the door behind us, Tsukishiro walked straight into his bedroom. And out emerged Yue. 'You said you wouldn't come,' he said looking piercingly at me. Even though he was a beautiful creature, there was something scary about him. 'I wasn't thinking straight then,' before I could say anything further, Kero shot out of my bag and said, 'Give her a break, Yue. We talked today, she hasn't changed much!' Li looked at me too horrified to speak. 'What did you want to tell us?' I asked trying to sound cool. 'Keruberos must have told you. You are the card captor. You had caught the cards and converted them. Now you have to save these cards from degenerating.' 'Why did you erase our memories?' I asked all of a sudden.

This seems to have surprised all. I could feel Li staring at me and could hear Kero muttering something. Yue came closer. Though I had a mad urge to scream and run out of the room, I stood straight trying not to shiver. Even though everything about him was icy, his presence was warmth itself. He came very close and brought his hands to my shoulders and said, 'We had to. Believe us when we say that we didn't want to make you forget anything. But it had to be done. We are also responsible for yours as well as Yukito's memory loss,' he added looking at Li. Yue moved away and continued, 'Even though Sakura is the captor, Sayoran Li's presence is very much necessary as you are a direct descendent of Clow Reed and you posses great strength.' We all remained quiet for a while at the end of which he spoke again, 'Yukito will know everything very soon, but it wouldn't be me who tell him this. That moment will soon arrive.'

'So, what do I have to do to bring these cards back to their proper form,' I asked. Strangely this question pleased them both. 'You have to use them!' Kero said matter-of-factedly. 'And how do I do that?' I asked. 'You call these cards by their names - they all have their own names, you see - and just use them; like, use the fly card to fly,' he replied. 'It's not that simple,' Yue interjected, a bit annoyed, 'There must be a good reason for you to use them. Using them merely to rejuvenate them would exhaust yours as well as the cards' powers!' Strangely it all made a lot of sense. 'So where do I come in?' Li spoke for the first time. 'You have helped her convert some of the most powerful cards and that makes you have some command over them,' and he added, 'You have to be with her all the time.' This made Li go a bit red and I myself felt a bit hot on the face. Kero grinned and jumped into my bag and said, 'We'd better go.'

We had managed to convince Yukito that he'd had a similar attack and advised him to go to bed. We had a silent walk back home. Mainly because there was an audience within my bag. I could feel Li itching to ask me something and I madly wanted him to ask but we both kept quiet. Suddenly, I had the strange sensation of being followed again. 'Li, let's walk separately,' I said trying to sound casual. 'Why? What if...?' he didn't complete. I knew he was thinking of my attackers. 'We're being followed,' I said and added, 'by Guoen.' 'What? How can you tell?' he asked bewildered and a bit alarmed. 'I got this feeling. Just go, I'll be fine; I've got Kero,' I said remembering his real form. And so he left. I felt Guoen's presence throughout my walk back to the hostel. I bumped into Yui at the doorway. 'You're back,' she said relieved. It suddenly dawned to me that she did all this just out of concern; how could I've been so mean to her. I hugged her before I went to the room.

'What was that for?' she asked me as we got to our room. 'For worrying about me,' I said quite glad that I was able to give an honest answer after so long. She looked at me strangely and said, 'How did your date go?' 'Ok; we managed to solve two whole exercises!' I said showing her those chapters on the text. She looked a bit put down, 'So it was a study date!' 'Of course, silly!' I said though I'd have liked it otherwise. 'So, is he clever? I always thought him a bit of an airhead!' she said. 'Oh no, he's a genius. It's just he's too friendly and jovial that no one takes him seriously,' I said remembering the way he greeted us. The whole night Yui spoke only of Yukito. She said that he looked cute but a bit stunted and too lean and his hair was messy and his glasses were oddly large, etc. We both worked out a few more problems and went to sleep. I had a dreamless sleep after many nights.

The next day I had an unpleasant experience of running into a conversation between Guoen and Li. Apparently they didn't notice me and as I was about to leave noiselessly, I heard Guoen ask, 'If the letter was nothing, why did I see you with her last night?' This made me stay behind the wall and bend down pretending to search for something, which I'd accidentally dropped. 'She happens to be a classmate of mine. Besides, the night before yesterday she seems to have been attacked. She was even a bit wounded. So, even though she declined, I decided to give her company for a while,' he said only being innocently honest. Guoen's voice faltered a bit when she said, 'Oh!' Was she jubilant or was she dreading whether she'd be caught? Whatever was that which went through her head then, I'd never know, since such an acute hatred towards her mounted inside me that I left.

It was a strange and an irritating coincidence, since I ran into Guoen three more times that day; it wasn't even a lab-day. At the first time, she scorned at me saying incoherent things and went away quickly. The second time I showed her good. 'Like I said to Li last night,' I said not losing a second, 'I was attacked by these masked people. And I could almost swear that I heard one of them say - of course a figment of my imagination,' I made a face, 'That this was to teach a lesson and that I should no be rude to Chel Guoen!' Her expression changed and she said in a deliberately low tone, 'You have some guts to say all this to me. I know you're trying to get Li against me. Look here girl,' she said bringing an extremely well manicured finger to my chest, 'You are not going to get him so quit trying. Or you'll pay.' When she walked away, I had an image of many more attackers and so I called after her, 'I didn't tell this to Li. So don't worry.'

The third time, I had again ran into a conversation between Guoen and Violet. This I had no desire to listen to, and they were aware of my presence, but I had to hear it since they talked very loudly, 'What'd you think of him?' Violet asked. I wanted to dig my fingers into my ears. 'He's my type of guy. In our college and we hadn't had noticed him this long?' Guoen said making a face. 'What if he came to see somebody in the senior's hostel?' said Violet. 'I was just speaking out my heart's wish.' I wished I could tape it and give it to Li as a birthday present. Thankfully, our professor walked in and our class began. I don't know what exactly she was trying to prove by making me listen to all that hogwash but it irritated me greatly; probably that was her point. Apparently, I wasn't the only one subjected to this harassment; Yui seems to be enlightened on the subject as well. And I was quite surprised when she said that Li had heard it too. 'He didn't seem to mind a bit, though,' she added as an afterthought. What kind of a relationship did they have?

As the exams were nearing at a frightening rate, none of us wanted to hang around the campus after classes. All went straight to their dormitories, including Guoen and her friends. This kind of surprised me; I thought she might want to hang around to have another glimpse of Mr. Cute. Why do I mention him so much? I have a very good reason. The moment I had settled down to study, I got a message (I was the only one not using the common room) that there's someone waiting for me in the hall. I wished it would be Li. No particular reason though. I wanted to talk to Kero more about Li, but he always preferred sleeping and eating to making conversation. I went to the hall to see a familiar figure with his back turned on me; he didn't even notice the door open - he was way too busy talking to Guoen. Guoen too seemed to enjoy it very much. 'Excuse me...?' I muttered just to make them aware of my presence. They both turned hearing me speak. I needn't mention how shocked I was to see Toya.

I was surprised and certainly I was happy but at the same time, I felt a burning anger towards my brother. 'Sakura,' he said smiling and he came closer. I backed a bit and looked for Yui all around. I felt a bit intimidated by this guy. He didn't look anything like me. As Guoen was good enough to inform me earlier, he was extremely good looking, more than what I remember of him, and he was very tall. But still he was my brother. I finally managed to ask, 'Why have you come, Toya?' His face fell, 'You didn't want me to? You do want to see me, don't you?' he asked a bit alarmed. I've never felt the other way before and how could I make him understand the pain I'd experienced when he had refused to see me all these years? I was suddenly aware of people looking at us, especially Guoen who seemed as though she had had a heart attack. 'Let's go outside, Toya,' I said. I looked back hoping that Yui was still there. She was there; somehow her sight was a bit reassuring for me.

We sat on a bench (not the ominous one near the woods) near the garden. 'How are you, Toya?' I asked remembering his illness. 'I'm fine,' he said and added with much emotion, 'Sakura, don't you realize why I'd prevented you from seeing me the past five years? I know you what you're thinking; it's obvious from the way you greeted me.' 'You were horrified to see me a few weeks back,' I said uncertainly. 'Yes but not for the reasons which uncle and aunt had provided; I didn't want you to know things. You had to find Yue and Keruberos by yourself! You'd have remembered everything if you saw me that day.' I thought I missed a beat, 'You know about...?' 'Yes and there's another reason for my visit,' he said, 'You have to come with me to meet Yukito. I've got to see Yue.' 'Why?' then I realized, 'Yukito should know...' 'Yes, will you come with me right now?' he asked. I had to take some time to make things penetrate deep enough. After that I said, 'I have to call Li first,' and was about to explain who Li was when he interjected, 'Oh that kid is still around! I never liked him!'

I had to go back to my room to make a call. Yui, who was in the common room with Jin, asked me as I came out after the call, 'Who is he?' I could feel myself grinning a bit too broadly when I answered, 'Toya, my brother!' She got up thoroughly shocked, 'you have a brother? A brother you've never told me about? I used to tell you which college my second cousin attended!' 'I have to go now; I'll explain everything when I'm back' and smiling I made my exit. Before leaving the room, I had the pleasure to behold Guoen's bewildered visage. We both went straight to the seniors' hostel and met Li on the way. Toya scowled at him. Li seemed surprised by both that I've got a brother and that my brother doesn't like him. We went to the study hall quite sure that he'd be there. But he wasn't. 'Good, that means he's in his room!' Li said happily. We went upstairs. As we were about to knock at the door, a tall boy with glasses appeared out of nowhere and said, 'Yukito said that you two'll show up. I'm asked to tell you two that he isn't to be disturbed since he's suffering from severe headache!' and this informer seemed surprised to find a third guy. 'We'll keep that in mind. See you,' Toya waved at him and turned back.

'Are we going to come tomorrow?' Li asked as we all turned back. 'It has to be done today,' Toya said, a bit exasperated, as he turned once again and walked in direction of the door we had quite earlier. 'How're we going to get in?' I asked as Toya looked quite unprepared for a break-in. 'He may have a headache or he may be in a coma, but he always responds to a couple of prompt door-knocking,' he said smiling. And he knocked exactly twice, quite sharply and we waited. It took a long time, but he finally appeared looking as though a lawnmower went over him. But nevertheless he smiled at Li and me and said weakly, 'I told... not to let you in.' He then realized an addition in the company and stared, his eyes a pair of slits. 'Yuki, it's me, Toya Kinomoto, do you remember me?' Toya asked cautiously. Tsukishiro stared for some time and said, 'come in.' He slouched about his room before saying, 'No, I don't. Are you her brother?' 'Yes and I want to talk to Yue,' Toya said. 'What? I live here by myself and I think you must...' before he could complete the sentence he collapsed on the floor.

Toya went to his side and squatted beside him and seemed to be observing him keenly. Then he got up and gave room for him to convert himself to Yue. Yue didn't speak for while when he saw Toya. He simply stared - his glassy eyes fixed at Toya's dark ones and they stood like that for some time at the end of which, Yue spoke, 'It is good to see you again, Toya!' Toya smiled and made a gesture, which could have meant, same here. Then Toya turned at us and asked us to leave. 'Why did you want us here at the first place?' Li asked irritated. Toya seemed to be exercising a lot of self-control when he said, 'For this, you two are not necessary and that will be all! Sakura, please go. I'll tell everything tomorrow.' So we had to leave. Li was irritated or rather angry at Toya. 'You're brother's got a huge attitude problem!' he said unable to control himself. He looked even more irritated when I smiled in response. 'I just am happy that I can see him again,' I said, which made Li stop the topic.

I suggested we take separate routes and get out at different times, as we were near the exit. I didn't want Guoen sending assassins after me. Li seemed to share my feelings that day and thus we parted. As soon as I reached the hall, Yui bounded on me asking several questions. Again, I postponed the moment of explanation, as the hall was decently crowded. I went straight to my room and changed. Yui came barging in and said, 'Why can't you tell me?' 'Because, I didn't want our whole class to know about my family reunion!' I said. 'Uh? Ok, tell me, why haven't you told me already?' she asked. 'Because, he kept refusing to see me all these years. And it hurt me to talk about him to anybody.' She seemed to understand. 'So what made him come back?' she asked. If I had to answer that honestly, that'd mean, I have to tell her everything. Even though I was no longer mad at her, I thought it would be better kept a secret from her. 'Apparently, he'd never actually refused. It's all my uncle's and aunt's doing. They had never let us see each other. He wasn't healthy for a while and was under their care,' I said and added, 'my father's away. I wonder what he is doing right now.'

'Your brother seems to be fine now. He was flirting quite healthily with Guoen,' Yui said smirking. This made me sick, 'Are you sure that she wasn't the only one who was doing the flirting?' 'Oh, I'm pretty sure that he did his best!' she said. I'll change his attitude if it's the last thing I do: I thought as I went back to studying. This time Yui studied with me and we were able to finish a substantial lot. I was altogether very happy that night. I went to bed thinking of Toya and I saw a younger Toya going to the school with me. He was on a bicycle and I was on roller blades and we had company - another boy on a bicycle - it seemed to be Tsukishiro. He looked very cute and I seemed to have a crush on him when I was small. With these thoughts I fell asleep and in my dreams I saw my father that night.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: EXAMTIME

We had three days leave before the exams and all of us were in a studying frenzy. In the morning many boys came over and many girls went to the boys' hostel to study. That day Cheyen had come over to our room to study. That was the first time I'd seen Cheyen since the day I'd cried in front of him. To be honest I was avoiding him. But he seemed to have forgotten it. We did a lot of problems and tried to quiz one another (very short quizzes) and took break after three hours. Yui said that she'd get us something and went out. Taking advantage of the moment I asked Cheyen not to mention that incident to her. This was a mistake as he had totally forgotten about that. Anyway he agreed. I fell flat on my back and tried to refresh myself by breathing in as much as I can. 'What's this?' Cheyen's voice made me sit up. He was holding Kero. He smiled and said, 'You two play with toys?' and started to laugh.

I snatched Kero off his hands. Cheyen repeated his question a bit incoherently. 'Don't drag me in. It's Sakura's plaything!' Yui had come with her hands full of eatables. 'It's not a plaything!' I said quite annoyed as I snatched a can of coke from her hand. 'Oh yes, it's Kero, a...' Yui didn't complete. She just sat down feeling awkward, she was obviously thinking about my night out on the bench. We didn't mention the business any further. Cheyen sensed something and didn't ask anything about it. After we had started off from where we had left Statistics, Yui said, 'I saw Guoen all alone on a bench near the garden, studying. She seems to have had a fight with her friends.' She looked at Cheyen. He got angry, 'How would I know?' Then she looked at me, 'Li seems too busy nowadays to get time to hang out with his girl-friend.' I knew what she meant. I didn't say anything. Since neither Cheyen nor I were interested in pursuing the subject, Yui dropped it.

Actually I was wondering the same thing. Li had never been seen with Guoen outside Campus for some time then. They never studied together or have never been seen walking together or anything. These turn of events made me feel quite happy. I wondered why I felt happy and even a bit hopeful. Suddenly the words of Kero echoed in my head: He adored you! If that was the truth, as I have been thinking for a long time now, was I his long-lost friend? But that friend's dead, right? Or just lost? I wanted to ask this to somebody. But who? Kero! Yes, Kero! But how can I escape from there? I stuffed Kero into the back of my blouse and got up, saying, 'I feel like taking a walk!' Cheyen who was brooding over a problem for past fifteen minutes, said, 'That's an excellent idea! Let's walk!' 'No,' the last thing I wanted was a group discussion over the topic, 'I want to walk alone!' Yui raised a brow, 'Anybody waiting for you outside?' 'No, of course not!' I laughed a bit and said, 'I'll be back within half an hour,' and went out careful to conceal Kero.

I went outside nearer to the woods, away from others. As soon as we were properly concealed, Kero shot out of my grip and said, 'That was suffocating!' 'Sorry,' I said and added, 'I wanted to ask you something, Kero.' 'What?' he said trying to straighten his left ear, which was slightly squashed by my grip. How would I ask him? 'You told me that Li and I were friends when we were small,' 'Yes, so what?' 'What kind of friends?' I asked. 'Well,' he said apparently trying hard to remember, 'Li didn't like you very much,' my heart sank, 'when you just got to know each other. You can't really blame him. You were competing with him. But eventually...' he stopped and started to scratch his ear. This took a long time; 'Eventually...?' I asked unable to contain myself. He grinned at me and said, 'Eventually you two became the best of friends!'

'Kero, I've known from various sources that,' I again started, 'Li had lost a friend when he was in his early teens and this seemed to have upset him so much that he got into a depression!' I waited for him to react. He didn't react. 'Do you think that this friend is me?' I asked. He shook his head sadly, 'Sakura, Sakura. Weren't you listening? You were his best friend ever and if he is to get so depressed in having lost a friend, that friend is definitely you!' A very strange sensation came over me; it was difficult to explain. I was a lot happier than I was a few moments ago but I felt unhappy that Li doesn't know about this. I remembered the first time I saw Li in our college. I was so much affected by his presence. Maybe it was because of this. And then I had another image: a small boy, extending his hand towards me saying, 'I'm Sayoran Li.'

When we walked back, Kero grabbed the back of my jacket and just remained there hanging. 'Kero?' 'Yes?' 'I think my memories are coming back,' I said remembering some snatches of my childhood days. 'Good, good!' he said without much enthusiasm. I remember me spending time with Yukito, Toya and Li. 'Hmm. What about Tomoyo?' he asked. 'Who's that?' I asked though it sounded awfully familiar. 'Your friend. You should go and visit her. She hasn't been able to speak ever since you'd left!' How awful! I had a friend who can't talk and that too because of me? 'Why was that so?' I asked horrified. 'I don't know. Probably because she didn't want to!' 'How do you know?' I asked wondering how he could've known if he'd been stuck as a stuffed animal for a long time then. He didn't reply.

Even though I'd have preferred thinking about my past and Li the rest of the day, I had no choice but study. Cheyen left after a few hours but we continued until it was late night. I wanted to tell Yui the whole thing but I knew that'd not lead to anything good but I was no longer able to contain myself. 'You know why I felt funny around Li before?' I asked as we put out the lights before going to bed. ' _Before?_ ' she asked me giggling. I ignored it and said, 'I knew him earlier!' 'What?' it really had surprised her. 'Yeah, it comes back to me gradually. We used to go to the same school when we were kids!' I told her trying to convince her that's that. 'Oh? Does he know?' she asked. If I said yes, she'd ask how I got to know it so I just said, 'I don't know!' She seemed to have lost the little sleepiness she'd managed to procure, 'ooh… Ask him. Shall I ask him?' 'No!' I said suddenly, 'don't do anything stupid. I'll ask him afterwards.' She said something exasperated and shut up.

I was forced to wake up at five-thirty and open a book at five-forty-five. I was so sleepy that I couldn't keep my eyes open. She said that a little noise would bring the study-spirit into me. 'Where'd you go for noise at this time?' I asked as I followed her sleepily out of our bedroom. I was really surprised to see a considerable number of people studying in the hall, making quite a racket. 'Here,' she said forcing me down a chair. The noise did some good, as we were able to study quite well, until my stomach demanded some ammunition. We went to the canteen and had a cup of coffee (Yui had two) and a sandwich. This gave me some pep and we again studied without interruption (technically there was interruption but it did no harm) for three long hours. Then we went outside for some fresh air. This was a bad idea as I spotted a curious study group consisting of Guoen, Violet, Tai, Benz and Li. Yui didn't spot this and we soon went to resume our studies.

I couldn't really concentrate, as my head was full of the image I saw outside. Here I was thinking that Li's friendship with those people, excepting Tai Dee, was slowly disintegrating, and then I spot that. I know I had no right to think like that but then I had become Li's friend and had deluded myself that I have some authority over his other friends. And I didn't approve of Guoen. I was feeling so jealous, not only of Guoen but all those who were around him then. Yui felt that I was distracted and insisted that we take another walk outside. 'No!' I said a bit too emphatically not having the guts to behold the ominous sight again. We took a small break chatting with Jin and later she joined us and again we studied uninterrupted till lunchtime.

The canteen was jam-packed with first years. I tried to keep my eyes lowered so that I cannot spot Li. But there are certain things, which simply wouldn't escape your notice. The study-group was one of such things. They were no longer studying but making merry; rather a bit too wildly. But this time, Li noticed me. I felt embarrassed that he's caught me staring at him. I looked down immediately. Then I thought that such an action from my part would reveal my nervousness, so I looked up again confidently. But this time Li wasn't looking; he was engrossed in his pasta. But Guoen was looking. My confident stare melted as easily as I managed it and I found myself racing through my meal impatient to get out of that hellhole. 'Let's go, Yui, Jin!' 'What?' they were not even half way through. 'I feel stuffy in here. Can I go out?' I said. Though a bit taken aback, they gave leave. I could feel someone following me as I went out.

It wasn't Guoen. It was Li. A bit relived but embarrassed, I smiled at him. He smiled at me like he'd never smiled at me before. I'm not saying that it's the most beautiful smile ever, it's just he looked sad. 'I'd wanted to say something to you,' he said. Go on. 'My mum wants to see you again,' he said, 'would it be ok, if you could come tomorrow with me?' My mind was in a whirl. I'd love to do that, but for some reason, I felt a bit wary, 'Why now?' I asked. 'She said she wanted to show us something,' he said. Another portrait of Clow Reed? Though I didn't speak out my mind, he said, 'I don't think it's a portrait.' I smiled and said that I'd come. 'Let's go to the railway station separately,' he said, his head bent and said, 'be there by eight in the morning!' And then he walked away into the canteen.

All I could think of for the rest of the day was how I would convince Yui to let me go. It'd be highly suspicious as the exams were so close. About six o clock that day came my answer in the form of Toya. I saw him before he entered the building. Yui and I were having a walk by the garden when we spotted Toya passing the gate. This time I was really delighted to see him. I ran to him and hugged him and didn't let go so he had to pull me off. 'Glad to see you again,' he said screwing up his face a bit due to the effort of pushing me off. 'Come on, I want you to meet my friend, Yui,' I said pulling him. He delightfully walked with me. Then this idea occurred to me. I asked him to ask me in front of Yui whether he could take me out at eight o clock. 'Where am I taking you?' he asked me perplexed. 'You're not taking me, Li is taking me to his home and I don't want Yui to find out!'

'You're going with that boy? All alone?' he asked me getting a bit heated up. 'His mum apparently wants to see me,' I said trying to sound casual. 'I don't like it. I don't like him, that Li-boy!' he muttered as we got nearer to the bench on which Yui sat. 'This is my brother Toya,' I said, 'And this is my friend Yui!' I thought I spotted disappointment on his face. I was expecting him to like Yui a lot; not only because Yui was good-looking but also she was also very likeable. 'Hi, it's nice to finally meet someone from her family,' she said as she extended a hand. Toya took it, smiled and said, 'I'm really glad to meet someone, finally, who can put up with her!' and he ducked involuntarily. I scowled and let go of the hand, which I was so preciously carrying.

He said he'd just come to say hi and that he have to leave immediately (he has other plans in the town) and very deftly asked, 'Oh, Sakura, can you come with me tomorrow morning say around eight?' 'Oh, I don't know. I have loads to study,' I said trying to sound original. 'Oh, in that case, I can put it off, See ya!' he turned. 'No, don't go,' I grabbed his hand, 'I can come.' He was smiling mischievously. I had this urge to squish him under my feet. 'Ok, then come to the Blue Lagoon by eight,' saying this he was off. 'Why did I ever miss him?' I asked irritated, to Yui. 'Because he loves you,' she said as she walked into the building. I followed her in. She asked, 'Where do you think he wants to take you to?' 'I don't know. Probably to see some relatives or something,' I said.

Blue Lagoon was a scary-looking restaurant around a mile away from college. Yui insisted on accompanying me there as the people who came there were usually quite unpleasant. What was I to do? I let her come with me. Since the Blue Lagoon was nearby she insisted that we need to go only by seven forty five. I had to reach the station by eight! So I demanded we get out by seven fifteen. Just as I was planning how to get rid of Yui, Toya arrived. He had come there for some other purpose and almost asked me what I was doing there. Then, on seeing Yui, he said, 'Then let's go.' Yui soon left. 'Thanks,' I said a bit embarrassed. 'No problem,' he said and after added, 'Thank you for bumping into me today.' He bent down as though to kiss me, but thought better of it and went into the restaurant. 'I'll be going then, bye.'

I was only a few yards away from the building that I found myself walking with Toya again. He insisted on accompanying with me till the station. 'I don't trust Li!' he said. 'Why not? He seems to have saved my life and all,' I asked. 'I know, I know, but I don't like him,' he said matter-of-factedly. We boarded a bus and soon found ourselves near the station. It was ten minutes to eight. I said that I could go by myself into the station but no; he'll come with me. 'Why all this fuss? I'm not a little child,' I said getting a bit irritated. 'To make up for all the years I've lost, Sakura,' he said vehemently, 'I know, I haven't been there for you during the toughest times of your life, so let me be for you now! Don't avoid me, please.' How can I say no to something like this? I didn't object and he came with me. We inquired: no trains at eight o clock. At eight twenty there was one.

'I knew that he was bluffing,' he said angrily as we walked, 'he wanted to get you here early for God knows what!' We spotted Li on a bench. 'I know that he wouldn't do anything on purpose, he might have made a mistake,' I said as he came to be seen properly. He got up seeing me and smiled at me; his smile faded as he saw my company. 'Hello, Li,' I spoke before Toya could say anything. 'Hi. Are you going to board a train too?' he asked rather rudely to Toya. 'Oh no, he was just...' before I could finish, Toya spoke up, 'I was just making sure that she was safely on board. It was a good thing too; it seems there isn't a train for half-an-hour! Surely you made a mistake?!' Before I could even open my mouth either to apologize to Li or to prevent Toya from doing further damage, Li spoke up, 'I wanted to speak with Sakura, alone, which is not possible in the college.' Toya breathed something like 'Aha!' into my ear and sat on a bench quite far from us.

'You brought a body-guard?' he asked bewildered. 'No, of course not. We met on the way,' I said getting annoyed at Li for calling Toya bodyguard. 'What was it that you wanted to speak?' I asked. He looked at me exasperated and said, 'Well, you know why I'm taking you to that house, don't you?' 'Yes, your mum...' He nodded and asked, 'Did you bring Kero?' 'No,' I had deliberately 'forgotten' to take him since I didn't want him listening to our conversation. 'Good,' he said and blushed deeply and added, 'not that I don't like him or anything...' 'It's just... having another person around.' I could feel myself coloring up a bit. 'I wanted to tell you one more thing,' he said making my heart go much faster than usual, 'I was wondering,' he looked down at either his or my foot, 'if it'd be ok if I could tell everything to Chel!'

How I wished I was a trained kick-boxer, then! 'No, of course not!' I blurted out. 'Why not?' he asked getting riled up. 'Because, she needn't be involved. That's why I didn't tell Yui!' I said emphatically trying to drive the point into his head. 'But Chel is thoroughly acquainted with the Clow dynasty. She'd believe it easily and wouldn't blab about it. She already knows most of the stuff. Only that she thinks that I'm the captor!' Li looked at me hopefully. 'You're saying Yui'll blab? Yui has much more stable a head than Guoen,' I said getting angrier by the second. 'Just because you have some personal grudge against Chel, you shouldn't do this to her,' he also was getting angry. I have personal grudge against Guoen! Why? Because she insulted me in front of people? Because she accused me of being crazy about Li? Because I was crazy about Li? 'Ok, go on, tell everybody you like that we're going to catch some stupid cards! You know, you're a fool to think that Guoen would appreciate what you're going to tell her. From what I know of her, she's likely to dump you when she gets to know you don't get to be the captor!' saying this I walked away from him and went and sat with Toya, who obviously was unaware of what had passed between Li and me.

Seeing my expression, Toya didn't say anything other than that he'll leave five minutes later. It was eight ten by then. After five minutes, Toya got up, said bye and then bend down and said, 'Don't let that boy hurt you again, Sakura!' and then walked away. What did he mean? He was well away before I could penetrate this comment into my thick skull. Li had hurt me before? When? Was that why Toya hated him? Whatever!

I followed Li quietly into the train, which had arrived sharply at eight twenty. It was reasonably crowded and to avoid jumping out at the wrong station, I sat beside Li. I was a bit harsh, I though to myself and said, 'I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said all those things!' I expected him to have said something similar and smile at me. This didn't happen. Instead he kept quiet for a while after which he said, 'You have a brother who knows these stuff. Why would you want to tell anybody else?' This really pissed me off. 'My brother? My brother whom I've seen only two times for the last five years?' I said. He went a bit red and said, 'You have misunderstood about Chel. She isn't that bad, you know!' That's new. 'Ok, tell her if you want to. But I think it'd better for both Guoen and us if we kept it to ourselves,' I said.

This had a remarkable effect. He remained silent for a long time and spent the whole of this time staring at his foot blinking at the rate of about once in five minutes. Then he looked at me and smiled broadly, 'We're fighting unnecessarily,' he said and well, that was that. After what seemed a lifetime we reached his place. He boarded a bus and got out at a station near to his house. 'You know what, you're right, there's no need for Chel to know,' he said and smiled again. At first I felt quite happy about this change of mind but later I realized that he's probably saying this because he didn't want Guoen to dump him. We walked from the station to his house. It was a lovely walk but I couldn't appreciate the beauty because I felt a bit betrayed. I couldn't understand why she meant so much to him. He kept making cheerful comments about the scenery to which I made very brief remarks. And after a fifteen-minute walk we reached the huge mansion.

Yui's words echoed in my head - 'He's rich!' True he is rich - the place speaks for itself. This time when I saw his mum, I was able to recollect some past events. I had seen this woman when I was small. She didn't deny anything and she even gave interesting information - Meiling did attend the same school even though for only two terms. 'Li said that you wanted to see me,' I said abruptly as I could see that she was getting a bit carried away with other stories. 'Oh yes, I wanted both you and Li to see something,' she said placidly. 'Me too?' Li asked bewildered. What could she want to show both of us? She took us to the third floor of the huge house. Li whispered to me, 'It seems I wasn't allowed up here as a child!' 'But now you're allowed, aren't you?' I asked. He seemed thoughtful, 'Actually, I don't remember spending time in this house. For the past four or five years we've been living in a building near the city.'

She led us to a room, which was locked. She unlocked it carefully and a bit laboriously and finally we were looking into a small dusty room, which had obviously not been opened for years. Li gave a gasp and whispered, 'It's my room!' I couldn't understand; he lived in a house where he doesn't know where his room is? 'No, it was my room,' he corrected as he walked around checking stuff. Many of the drawers were stuck and the ones which budged where very creaky. There was a funny cupboard, which demanded all the strength, which both Li and I possessed to open up. It was empty except for a large trunk. Li carefully hoisted it out. Mrs. Li laughed and said, 'This room is full of your eccentricities!' I could see that he was eccentric for as he wrestled with the lock of the trunk, I walked around checking out the place. Apparently Li was a very philosophical kid; there were inscriptions everywhere - on his bedclothes, on the table and even on the curtains. Some things had been removed for I could see small less-dusty patches on the table. Why would Mrs. Li want me to see all these?

'Aha!' followed a snap, indicated that Li had successfully opened that ancient trunk. We both rushed to his side. There was a piece of yellow cloth covering whatever the trunk held. He took the whole parcel out of the trunk. He undid a knot on the side and revealed the contents - some deteriorating many-coloured envelopes. Before he could open any of the envelopes, I noticed a lock on the floor of the trunk. 'I think there're more inside the trunk, Li,' I said feeling the small bolt to make sure if it's real. It was real and it opened quite easily. I asked Li to see what was in it; I myself felt a bit scared. He slowly lifted the lid and brought out what looked like a sword. 'What's this?' Li asked as though to himself. 'This,' Mrs. Li said, 'is what which I wanted you two to see.'

'We all expected Li to be the captor because of this. He had inherited many powers by birth and he was able to command upon the elements using those powers. This sword is similar to your staff, Sakura. Only if he has the sword with him, though not materially all the time, can he summon the elements to do what he wished them to do!' she explained. It all seemed so incredible! So, was Li a captor, too? No, he got the powers, inherited, right? Many emotions passed through my head, which also included relief, as I'm not the only weird one around.

Li seemed a bit dazed by all this. He sat on his bed and took one of the envelopes and tore it open: there were two cassettes and a paper cover inside it. 'What're these?' He asked about to open the paper cover. 'No, Li, not now, take these with you and go through it during leisure, after the exams. These're some photos of your childhood. I don't want to distract you during your studies,' she said. Instead she showed him a sword and told him he has magical powers! Not remotely distracting! He laid the things back in the envelope and said suddenly, 'So, why did you tell me all these now?' Mrs. Li took a deep breath and said, 'Now that Sakura has uncovered her secrets and is going to recall her powers, she would need your help. Your physical presence isn't enough. You need all this!' she handed the sword to him. He took it hesitantly and nodded as though to himself.

I wanted to leave immediately as I was not completely prepared for my exams. Li seemed confident, though. Anyway, Mrs. Li wouldn't hear of us leaving without lunch. So we stayed till two o clock not doing much. As we had brought no books, we tried to discuss what we had already studied. But we were both so distracted that we didn't get anywhere. We had a quiet journey back home; Li loaded with new luggage. Once he brought up Guoen, 'I'm not going to tell Chel anything.' Great, I thought though I didn't respond. I was sure he decided that he's doing that to prevent Guoen breaking up with him. He seemed to sense what I was thinking for he said suddenly, 'I don't want Chel breaking up with me. Anyway I don't think she'll do that if I said that I wasn't the captor. But why take risk!' Ok, don't. 'My mother always says that she's responsible for all the good things that had happened to me. She's awfully fond of Chel. She'll hate me if I break up with her.'

This was new, which though made me happy, was a bit disturbing. He was dating a girl to please his mum! That was totally unnecessary! I didn't tell that, though. We went to our hostels separately. It was nearly five thirty then. Yui was studying with Cheyen inside our room. She seemed surprised and embarrassed in seeing me. This made me wonder whether they were having had any other activities other than studies. I didn't pry, of course. I asked them to go to the hall and study while I change. While I was combing my hair, I suddenly had a picture in my head, of Li telling Guoen that he wasn't the one and Sakura is. 'Sakura?' she screamed and threw a red rose at his face. He looked happy, but his mum, who was peeping through a window, seemed angry and brandished Li's sword threateningly at him. This image was soon replaced by another one in which Li actually completed the task of opening the paper envelope and bring out a photo on which was little Li with his arms around a little me.

This disturbed me and I immediately joined Cheyen and Yui. We completed a lot that day. We had little food and much coffee and absolutely no fun the whole of the next day. Nothing substantial happened that day other than me running into the dreaded study group three times - once in the hall, once in the canteen and once in the garden. This had a little effect on me for I was much too into the studies. The tension of the exams made me forget about the cards, Li and everything worth thinking. That obviously was a good thing.

The first exam we had was Calculus. It was quite easy for me, except for a section on differential equations, which I was quite sure I'd got right but after the exam I got to know that I was wrong. We didn't have any breaks for the next one - Algebra. But owing to the fact that it was generally an ok subject, that exam was also ok. Then we got a two-day break for Economics. That was totally unnecessary, since it was an optional subject and none of us bothered that much. For the same reason, it was quite tough. We had Statistics and Kinetic the same day; both were really tough. Usually we find Statistics easy - sensing this, our professor gave us some real tough ones.

Finally the last day of our exams came and only one subject - Computer. It was a stupid exam and none of us bothered to ask ourselves whether it was tough or easy. We had half a day break and Yui and I decided to enjoy it quietly by ourselves. That always meant that I'd sleep and she'd watch me enviously. But that day as I dozed off someone knocked on the door. By the time I got to my senses, Yui had asked the intruder to come in - it was Li. 'Hey,' I mumbled as I tried to make myself look presentable. He looked a bit flushed and uncertain as to what to say. I had a feeling that it was something concerned with the cards. Then I saw a small cover in his hands.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: MY PAST**

Yui left us with a look of strong suspicious look on her face as Li said that he needed to talk to me privately. As soon as she left, Li flung the cover onto my bed and said something incoherently. I guessed that he had welcomed me to see the contents. I found my hands shaking as I drew out some paper envelopes from the cover - the photos! And besides photos there were also some small cassettes. I looked up at Li, who nodded vigorously. I took out some photos and nearly gasped as I saw what I saw. As I had wished, they were photos of Li and me, quite young. We were not alone in most of them - there was a girl with long black hair, whom I took to be Tomoyo and Kero. The girl was not there in most photos, so I assumed that she might have taken these photos.

I was quite tall for my age, when I was a kid; a bit taller than Li was, who was always near me in most of the photos. He looked morose and unhappy in most of the photos, except a few, which seemed to have been taken unaware and in those Tomoyo wasn't there, so probably she took then while we were looking away. He looked really cute when he smiled. And from the way he looked at me in those photos, it seems that he did adore me. I badly wanted to look up at Li, who was standing beside me looking at the photo I'm holding. But I didn't. One of the photos was a bit alarming. I was squatting on the bare ground, my dress stained with blood and my knee was twisted in a quite painful way and Li, who seemed to have been pulling me up to my feet, was gritting his teeth at the person with the camera. Who would want to photograph such a moment?

There were nearly 50 photos in all. After I had gone through all of them, I looked up at Li again. His expression was unreadable but he seemed to be confused. After a long time he said, 'So, what do you think?' What do I think? I think it's great. We had been friends and from the looks of it really good friends.' 'I... I think...' I felt a bit embarrassed to admit it. Anyway Li intervened and said, 'Who's the other girl?' 'I think her name is...' 'Tomoyo!' we jumped as we heard a voice from above - Kero. He flew down to us and snatched a photo from my hand and looking at it he said, 'She's Tomoyo! Neither of you remember her?' he looked at us reproachfully before adding, 'of course you wouldn't!'

I ran my fingers over the cassettes wondering what I am to see in those. Li's voice broke my chain of thoughts, 'Why didn't I see it till now? It was in my room; or I think?!' I felt sympathetic; I had to say something 'You didn't exactly live here throughout, did you?' 'No! God! To think that we'd been friends and didn't know it! We met as total strangers!' he said vehemently. I felt quite angry at this, 'for you maybe! It was different for me!' 'You knew...?' he said his face darkening a bit. 'No,' I didn't know how to put it, 'I felt weird; it is difficult to explain.' I didn't want us to fight again, so I said, 'I'm glad you found these pictures. Now I know for sure,' and smiled at him. He blushed a bit and returned a smile.

If he stayed any longer, Yui would grow more suspicious, so I asked him to get out. He looked a bit disappointed and asked me what to do with the photos. I knew that was an invitation to keep the photos so I said, 'I'd like to keep them for a while, I'll return them!' I looked at the cassettes and said, 'Yui have a Video cam, I can view them later.' 'NO!' both Li and Kero shouted so loudly that I nearly dropped the photos. 'No,' Li said quietly, 'Yui shouldn't see those.' I got angry again, 'I can't tell Yui that I had friends?' 'Sakura,' Kero said, 'the photos you can show,' he ignored the blubbering sound made by Li and continued, 'But these cassettes were recorded by Tomoyo when you were... how should I put it... in action!' That girl had captured the way I had chased down cards and converted them! I felt so excited that I said, 'I have to see it now.'

Li put the cassettes hurriedly into the cover and said, 'Later Sakura, I promise you. Keep the photos and show them to Yui if you want to,' his face said he didn't want to, 'bye!' And he was off. After a minute Yui walked in looking more suspicious than ever, 'What was that all about?' I must have been smiling for Yui said smirking, 'you enjoyed it for sure?' Before Yui could jump into conclusions, I took the envelopes and gave it to her, 'He came to show me these.' It was fun to watch Yui as she took the envelope from my hand and slowly drew out a photo with a look saying why the hell did he want to show me photos and then her eyes nearly popped out as she finally deciphered what she was seeing. 'Who...? What...?' I laughed at her and said that I was right about me and Li being school friends.

'You said you two were schoolmates, not friends like this!' she said vehemently brandishing the very same photo which had captured my fancy a few seconds back. I took the photo from her hand lest she should destroy it but I just couldn't just stop smiling as I looked at it again. For a while, Yui kept quite as she went through the rest of the photos and then said looking very serious, 'How come you two never knew? Or was Li pretending?' 'No, he didn't know. We both couldn't really remember...' I'll have to explain the whole thing to make this very clear. She surely wasn't convinced for she said, 'Surely no one would forget a very close friend! Who's she?' 'Tomoyo,' I said automatically. That was a mistake for now I'd have to explain how I came to know her name.

'Li told me,' I said before Yui could even think about weird questions. 'Sakura,' she said very carefully, 'You're hiding something from me.' 'Yes, I am,' I could again feel my temper rising; would she ever believe me? No, then she asks stupid questions. 'What are you hiding from me?' she said, her eyes now fixed on Kero who was lying flat besides me and said, 'It wasn't there before. You took him from the table to show it to Li?' I got up not knowing what to do; maybe Li and Tomoyo were my childhood best friends but now I've got only Yui. 'Right now I can tell you only this, that you're my best friend whoever might come claiming to be my old classmate. I don't want to lose you. Don't ask me anything more. But I'll tell you everything real soon. Right now, I have to go,' I reached for Yui's shoulder and held her and let go. She looked annoyed. I soon left to follow Li to his room.

I so badly wanted to see those videos. Me actually using my powers! Probably I could watch and learn. With these thoughts I walked out of the building and as I was almost out of the compound I heard a familiar laugh. First I thought it was Li's but I couldn't place it. I walked around the corner to see who it was. I was shocked to see Toya with Guoen. I don't know what they were up to but they both seemed to enjoy it a lot. 'Hey Sakura,' he said looking a bit abashed. 'Bye, _Sakura_ , we have places to see, Toya,' she said and she dragged him off. He didn't offer much resistance and I watched in dismay as he went along with her and soon became out of sight.

He didn't seem to want to shake her off and go with me. Was all the crap he said a few days earlier about wanting to be with me all the time, a huge lie? There was a strange throbbing sensation in my head as I thought about it. I couldn't really see my surroundings since my head was full of images of me accidentally meeting him in my aunt's house and his shocked face and then it was replaced by his smiling face. Now he's just gone for a vamp like Guoen! I tried to think more of Li and I even thought of the way Guoen react after I tell this to Li.

I saw Li outside sitting on a bench reading a novel. He smiled pleasantly at me as I went towards him. He patted the bench indicating me to sit. I sat and then my anger was replaced by alarm. Once Guoen send guys after me because she thought I was going to sabotage their relationship and now I am going to do that, so what would she do? Kill me? But I wanted to tell Li. 'Where's Guoen?' I asked determined to make him aware indirectly. He laughed and said, 'This is guys' hostel!' 'You don't seem to hang out often nowadays!' I snapped back. 'She's making new friends I suppose,' he said casually and I bet he felt awkward then. He seemed to know!

'You came to see the video so come with me to my room,' he said getting up. I followed him. We didn't speak anything until we got to his room. This was the first time I had actually entered his room. He shared it with some guy I didn't know. That guy wasn't there. 'Take a seat,' he said and he produced the cover with three or four cassettes from a chest of drawer on the table on which the TV stood. As he lifted one cassette to insert it into the player, the power went off. 'Oh no!' I cried quite aloud. Li snorted. This coincidence seemed to amuse him.

'We could wait,' he said keeping the cassette back in its place. It was getting quite dark and though it wasn't a long walk to the ladies' hostel, the images of the masked guys creeped me out. I nodded and kept looking outside the window at the orange sun near the horizon. 'You aren't scared of the dark, are you?' I froze as he said this; he was sitting so close to me that I could feel his breath as he pronounced each word. I turned my head slowly lest I should collide with him. I hadn't had noticed him come and sit beside me. I backed a bit and said, 'No, why do you ask?' 'Have you been attacked since...?' he asked his gaze involuntarily lingering to my shoulders. My now-almost-invisible wound was appropriately covered by two layers of cloth.

'No, why would anyone want to attack me?' I asked getting up. 'Why were you attacked that day then?' he asked getting up and following me quite close. 'I don't know. I don't want to talk about it!' He stopped following me and went and sat on the sofa and kept looking down at his toes. I stood where I was standing wondering what to do next. This continued for so long that it was quit dark by then. Li got up and lit three candles stuck to a single stand. 'Do you want to wait any longer?' he asked. I wanted to see those videos so badly that I didn't say anything. 'You're great in those videos,' he said, his smile illuminated by the candles, which he was holding between us.

That was a tempting offer and I suppose he wanted me to stay. He moved away and placed the candles on a table and sat on the sofa. I resumed the silence and kept myself busy thinking of all possible things I could have done in the video. This was interrupted by what happened previously that evening. I was about to say what I'd seen, when Li suddenly got up and said, 'You're the missing friend, you know?' I couldn't even open my mouth to say anything back. 'I just know it, it was you. That friend was merely separated, not gone. It's you. Even though I don't remember your face, I remember how much I missed you. I even knew it was a girl!' he said with a weird laugh.

I didn't say anything back. I knew all these things (except the fact that he knew the friend was a girl) and I didn't know how to reply. I remained silent for a long time. He gave and exasperated grunt and caught me by my arms and shook me violently, 'Doesn't this mean anything to you?' This meant everything to me but what was I supposed to say? I knew these things, so even the element of surprise was gone. 'I know all these things,' I said not looking at his face. His grip tightened and he said, 'You knew? How did you come to know? Keruberos?' I had to struggle before he would let me go. 'Yes but, I knew we were friends even before,' I said, 'The first day we met, four months back, I knew... no, I had this weird feeling. It's hard to say.'

I looked at his face, which was turned away from light so I couldn't see it properly and said, 'I knew that I was affected by you for some strange reason!' 'Did you know what that reason was?' he asked me. I dropped my gaze before answering 'No, I didn't know anything else other than the fact that I was attracted to you.' After quite a while I looked up, his face was very close to mine. He wrapped his fingers around my arms and bent closer and said, 'I missed you so much, Sakura.' He bent even closer and I involuntarily shut my eyes waiting. After what seemed to eternity, I felt his lips on mine. At the same time, the room in which we were standing seemed to have caught on fire; the power had returned.

We sprung apart as the lights came on and stood there staring at each other wondering what had happened. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it uncertainly. We were now standing quite a distance apart and when I thought of Guoen, I didn't want him to come any closer. I didn't even want to see those damned videos. I just turned back and got out of the room and ran as fast as I could out of the building. I could hear from a distance Li call out my name but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. Deep inside me I wanted to stop and wait for him to come running after me and then take me into his arms and kiss me senseless but my legs wouldn't stop.

My mind was in a whirl when I finally stopped near the gate to the ladies hostel. He had actually tried to kiss me. Ought I not to feel happy? But I felt miserable. Maybe it's the fact that we had to make this a big secret. Maybe it was because he was seeing another person and this makes me feel like a vamp. I felt a bit violated as I walked to our room dreading of the explanation I have to give Yui for running off and arriving late. She was writing something when I came. She looked up with a determined calm on her face. 'Where were you?' she asked matter-of-factedly. I was tired of telling lies, 'I was at Li's and I went there to see some videos he had promised to show me,' I paused wondering how I could put what's coming next nicely 'And power went off. So I waited and he... he…' I looked down. 'He what?' Yui asked sounding a bit alarmed. 'He kissed me!'

'What?' Yui asked her eyes widening. 'He kissed me,' I repeated feeling more miserable. 'What?' she asked again. I felt a bit annoyed, am I not kissable? Probably not! 'It lasted only for a couple of seconds, then the power was back and well I ran away!' 'What?' This was too much. I went to bathroom and shut the door. I needed time to think and from the looks of it, so did Yui. I wanted to feel happy but that guy was supposed to be with Guoen, who by the way was fooling around with my brother! So, why can't he cheat on her? Well, I didn't want to be some kind of a substitute. Besides the kiss was too abrupt. Was it just for old-times' sake? The words written behind the portrait came to my mind 'God alone knows how much I love you and miss you. What I would not give to have you back!' And that friend whom he had loved and missed so much was me! I took a shower and went back ready to take whatever Yui throws at me.

She didn't seem to have changed her position. 'He kissed you?' she asked her eyes wider than before. 'Yes, he did.' 'Why?' she asked. 'I don't know,' I said trying to sound casual but I was very agitated. 'Sakura, I have a feeling that there's more to it than just him kissing you and you two being friends back in your school years!' and then gave me a very significant look. 'You wouldn't believe me if I told you that's why I didn't tell you,' I said feeling a bit alarmed at what I'm heading for. 'I'll believe it, for God's sake, tell me!' she said her cheeks pink from the agitation. I could feel myself going red and hot. 'The whole thing about Kero, Clow Reed and the pendent all turned out to be facts,' I said reading her expression carefully. I could hear a gasping sound from somewhere far away. 'What?' she said now smiling. She's again not going to believe me. But this time I wanted to teach her a lesson. 'You mean the key to some kind of invisible... hey what're you doing Sakura?'

I tore the pendent from my chain and before I knew what I was doing I brought it closer to my heart and surprised myself as I muttered, 'by the power of my star...' Within a second I could feel it vibrating in my tight fist. I let go and it fell and stopped midair and started to grow into the beautiful staff I had seen only a week back. But this time I was not afraid. It was as though I'd done it a million times before. I caught the staff by its middle and stamped its butt on the ground merely to make an impression. The top of the staff made a distinct jangling noise. When I regained my proper sense I looked at Yui whose eyes were the widest I've seen and her mouth was open. I smiled at her and asked; 'Now you believe me?' She didn't respond. Now this alarmed me, has she had some kind of a heart attack? 'Yui,' I said moving towards her. At this she closed me mouth and backed away eyeing the staff fearfully. 'It's ok,' I said trying to pacify her. I hadn't in my frustration thought of the shock it would cause her.

She blinked after a long time. 'What did you do now?' I looked at the gleaming star at the top of my staff, and said, 'I converted the key into a staff!' She let out a faint laugh though she didn't look amused and said, 'What's going on?' Now I could hear a distinct voice, though a bit muffled saying, 'No, no, no...' It must be Kero stuck in my trunk. Yui looked in all directions and asked, 'What was that? Who said that?' All I said was, 'Kero did; I'll introduce him.'

Yui's eyes nearly popped out as Kero drifted sulkily from my bag across the room and settled on my shoulder. 'That... that... it's not...?' it was quite evident that she's shocked out of her senses. 'Yes, I agree with her, Sakura, you shouldn't have demonstrated all this,' Kero said with the same dull expression. 'Sakura... your bear...!' Yui looked really pathetic. 'As I had said, Kero is the Keruberos from my dreams, this is not his real form, and this is the secret which I'd been keeping from you!'

It took nearly two hours for Yui to return to her almost old self. By then, I'd managed to shoo away Kero back to the bag as his presence made her go back to all 'bear... Sakura... isn't it?' and similar words and phrases. 'This is weird! All too weird and... so freaky! Oh,' she suddenly buried her face in her hands and made a funny noise. I first thought she was going to cry but later I understood that this was all a part of the hysteria she was experiencing. 'I wanted to tell you before, but you wouldn't have believed me if I did!' She stared at me wide mouthed and we didn't speak nor move until someone knocked at our door and pushed it open before we could say 'come in.' It was Ather.

'The same weird guy is here to see ya, Sakura,' she said in the laziest of her usual lazy tones and left. I knew who the weird guy was and I had a good mind to tell her to ask him to get out, but it was Ather, she wouldn't do that. I went out to see Toya standing uncomfortably and looking up and down until I came. 'Hey, Sakura,' he smiled his beautiful smile and he walked towards me. I took a step back and asked, 'What do you want?' His expression changed and he put on a sorry face and said, 'I knew you would be mad at me, but I was looking forward to go out with Chel.' Him calling her Chel so freely creeped me out but what creeped me even more was people having to listen to it. I asked him to follow me outside the building.

'Why do you like Ch- Guoen so much? You know she's a...' I stopped searching for a nice word to use. 'I know you two aren't friends and that's why I didn't tell her that you're my sister. But that doesn't make...' 'What?' I exploded hearing him say that. It sounded as though it's a misfortune to be my brother. He looked at me apprehensively before comprehending what I'd found infuriating. 'Sakura, she didn't seem to be friendly with you, so...' he said smirking. 'So you told her that we're not related? So that she would like you? Just to go out with her?' I couldn't quite believe my ears. 'Sakura,' he said smiling widely now, placed his hands on my shoulder and brought his face close to mine and said, 'What matters is that I'm here, isn't it? Then why are you so upset?'

I shrugged off his hands and said, 'Just to go out with a pretty girl, you'd disown your sister? What did you tell her I was to you?' I asked, the fire not fading even a bit. 'A long-lost friend,' he said coolly as though this would cheer me up. A long-lost friend? That was what I was to him? Probably he spoke what he really believes. Besides how can a guy still have affection to a sister, whom he was separated from for more than six years? 'You should probably leave now, Toya, it's getting late,' I said and I turned back on my heels and walked towards the huge building, which was then a mere blur to me.

I directly went to bed. Yui didn't seem to want to speak to me either. The shock she received was similar to or perhaps greater than the one I had received and so neither of us bothered to console the other. I had a fitful sleep with short dreams of Toya and my aunt and uncle, all shouting at me and telling how irritated they're with me. Whenever I woke up, I saw Yui lying flat on her back and her wide eyes twinkling in the dark as she scanned the ceiling constantly. I felt sorry for her but I felt even sorrier for myself that I couldn't bring myself to console her.

We both somehow managed to spend the night. Towards daybreak I had fallen asleep and when I woke up, Yui's bed was empty and the sheets a mess. That was quite uncharacteristic; she usually doesn't leave the room without tidying up. I kind of panicked thinking that something serious had happened to her sanity. I left my bed undone and practically ran out of my room just grabbing an overcoat. She was in the common room, chatting quite merrily with Jin, a novel held opened in her hands. She got up with such a hurry to read a novel?

They both turned around as I gave a low 'hi'. Jin smiled pleasantly at me and gave me a merry good morning, while Yui said nothing. I was afraid she'd treat me like this. Jin obviously sensed something and said 'later' and was out of there. 'Good morning,' I said as I sat down besides her. I would have asked how she was if she hadn't asked me that first. 'I'm fine, why?' I asked quite surprised. 'You had a quarrel with your brother, didn't you? You looked so upset when you returned that I thought I'd better leave it for today.' 'Oh,' was all that I could manage. I had come prepared to give her a speech as to how all the magic-stuff is ok, and she needn't worry much. And now she's asking me if I'm ok!

'Yeah, it's very thoughtful of you,' I said finding it a bit comic. 'But _how_ are _you_?' I asked stressing the words 'how' and 'you' properly in case she misses my point. 'I'm fine,' she said in an offhand way and then added, 'though I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking of that Kero of yours!' 'He wouldn't hurt anybody, especially not my friend!' I said. 'But he's a lion really, isn't he?' she asked me. I admired her memory and I reassured her that he isn't a lion in all respects. After a long while, she suddenly asked me, 'so, where does Li fit in?' I had completely forgotten the other days' experience. I could feel myself flush. She could obviously see the change in me and so she rephrased, 'Is Li a part of all this Clow Reed and key affair?'

I nodded and kept silent wondering how to continue. 'Well?' she prodded me after three minutes or so. I took a deep breath and said, 'Li is a direct descendent of Clow Reed and he had inherited some powers of... Clow Reed.' 'So how come you're the one with the key and the lion?' she asked me, 'you're not related to him, are you?' 'No, it's something which I'm not sure either. I, apparently as a child, was chosen to bring back the powers unleashed by Clow Reed and convert them into cards, which would obey me,' I said in a low voice. 'Cards?' I could really empathize with her in this one, since I remembered myself freaking out in front of Yue. 'Yeah, cards,' I said trying to look all knowledgeable even though I had no idea how these 'cards' looked like.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: HORRORS OF THE PARK**

We went for classes after an hour and I kept thinking how I'd react if I am to see Li. And Li was the first person besides Yui I saw in our class. I could feel myself going red and he also looked thoroughly embarrassed but nonetheless he looked happy when he came towards us. But when he got nearer, my embarrassment was replaced my anger. He tried to kiss me when he was actually involved with someone else. But it wasn't that he grabbed to kiss me or anything; it was mutual. All these thoughts ran through my head when he came nearer. Suddenly I said to Yui, 'don't say anything to Li about me telling you everything!' He was too close so she couldn't reply to this.

'Hi,' he said looking at both of us and then focusing his attention to Yui. 'Hey,' she said and she gave me a perplexed look; I knew what that meant - what am I not supposed to say, about the cards or the kiss? I don't even remember the conversation, which ensued since I was too busy musing on what to do next. After a while I saw Yui going away towards the class so I promptly followed her. 'Sakura,' Li had already grabbed my arm and pulled me a bit towards him, 'I asked you only a few minutes, please!' That must've meant he had asked me something, which I hadn't heard. I twisted my arm uncomfortably, which he let go immediately. 'I'm sorry about yesterday.'

Even though it was an apology, which I'd wanted to hear, this made me feel more miserable. He was sorry. 'Ok,' I said and kept looking at the floor. He doesn't realize how delicate this matter is to me. I couldn't think of anything else throughout the day nor any of the days, which followed. Yui kept asking me weird questions and Toya appeared twice apologizing. I couldn't bring myself to forgive Toya. What he did seemed to be unpardonable to me. All together I had a horrible week. I knew the next week would be equally horrible since our exams results would be put up. I don't think I had ever felt that low before. But no, on reveiwing my recent past, I realized I had.

That Sunday I was promised a treat – from Kero. In the form of a sort of training session. He said that the rejuvenating cards couldn't wait any longer and I should be aware of my powers. I was of course very much excited, but I felt a bit scared too – what was I supposed to do. Till now all I could manage was to make the staff appear and jangle the top-most thingies on it impressively. Besides that, nothing! I voiced it out, which Kero waved off dismissively. 'You're same as before – always nervous especially when you needn't be!' We were to go to the public park at midnight. 'Why midnight?' I asked apprehensively. 'So that people won't see a girl doing magic!' he said as though he'd have loved to add – 'Duh!' The park! I didn't say it, but I thought it'd be more secretive and impressive if we took it to the woods or some other creepily dark place, where human beings are unlikely to come.

This time I didn't have to make any excuses or lies to convince Yui, as to why I should be out at twelve at night. I just told her the truth, backed by Kero. She, who had been very nervous when Kero was around, didn't object. I felt very uncomfortable walking all alone (Kero hid in my bag) on the dark streets with no sign of life, excepting a few cars now and then. The image of the real form of Kero was the only consolation. If something is to happen to me, Kero would transform, and… he would do his thing, whatever that may be. With these thought, I walked, for what which seemed, for ages, before we reached the park. The park was lit by one streetlight, which gave it a ghostly appearance. I could feel goose bumps all over my body at the mere sight of it; 'Should we do it here, Kero?' I asked wishing against all hopes that he's say no. He soared out of my bag, his golden body glowing in the dark, and said, 'This place is perfect.'

Kero soon settled on the ground and after making himself comfortable, he crossed his small stubby legs or rather hind limbs and said authoritatively, 'ok, let's see what you've got!' What did he expect me to do? Fly? Kick fight? Seeing my puzzled expression, he asked me to take my staff out. Oh yes, the staff! I did what I had demonstrated in front of Yui after making sure that no one was around. Soon I found myself standing with my fingers clasped around a beautiful long staff. How much ever I looked at it, I couldn't get enough of its beauty. The staff was pure gold and the star on top of it shone many colors depending upon the angle in which you held it. The silvery wings moved slightly as I waved the staff. None of these structures made any noise on moving; then where was the jangling noise coming from when the staff was moved?

I looked down and saw the golden glow I had seen when I had summoned the staff in front of Yue for the first time. It hadn't had appeared when I demonstrated it in front of Yui. I looked carefully – it was not merely a glow – it was actually a figure glowing on the ground. 'What is it?' I asked Kero, who was now air borne near me. 'It shows the orientation of stars in the heaven!' he said looking down mesmerized. 'But it looks so symmetrical,' I mused aloud. 'Hmm,' he said and flew down and pointed at a small moving object in the 'heaven' and said, 'that's your star! See how bright it glows!' On closed observation I understood it wasn't exactly moving – it was glowing and (my eyes might have fooled me) growing larger.

I stared at the ground for a long time awestruck at such a beautiful formation beneath my foot. I broke from my reverie only when Kero called. 'Are you going to stand there all night staring at that?' he said with a definite drawl. I tore my eyes away from the beautiful pattern on the ground and again looked at my staff, which no longer seemed formidable – felt more like a friend I hadn't been with for a while. I shook it gently so that I could hear the jangle. All these seemed to have been irritating Kero for he flew away. 'Kero!' I called as I ran after the stuffed animal. To my immense alarm, I couldn't find him anywhere.

The whole park was deserted, and was dark and eerie. That creepy stuffed animal had left me all alone in a place seemed to have been fished out from a horrible nightmare. I returned to where Kero had left me and sat on the ground, not from exhaustion, but mainly from fear. But deep inside me, I knew that Kero would come to my rescue if something were to happen to me. But after the masked men chasing me, I had an unnecessary fear of darkness and loneliness. At that moment, when I was somewhere between contemplating about life and its pitfalls, I heard a distinct scream – a very familiar scream. The first person that came to my mind was Yui.

I ran to where the sound came from calling out repeatedly for Kero. Once I was out of the park and into the woods, I saw a person lying sprawled on the ground. It was a girl who reminded me of Guoen at the first glance. She didn't seem to have seen me and was kicking wildly at nothing in particular. I drew the hood over my head before rushing forwards to see what exactly was she kicking at. It was a wine of some creeper, which had got entangled around her ankle. And to my horror it was slowly pulling her into the forest. She saw me or rather some person and kept repeating – 'please help me,' but what was I to do? She screamed again and was jerking so violently that it seemed as though she's got fits. Though I didn't know the girl, I madly wished Kero to be there. Then I heard a distinct laugh.

I heard it again. Now the girl was lying limp – she seemed to have passed out. That made things easy for me. I wasn't too curious to know exactly who was laughing at this grotesque scene, so I rushed to her and tried to remove the wine. It was too tough and I couldn't even accommodate my fingers to pries it off. My staff was lying on the ground only inches away from me. Maybe I could use it somehow. The lower end of the staff was blunt and had a circular basement – no good. The top part was as ring, inside which stood a magnificent star. I tried to bend the ring, so that I could expose the star and so I could use one of its spokes. On the slightest pressure, the ring gave way, not by bending, but by rotating and emitted a tingling sound. The star remained in position though. Then I heard another laughter.

This time as I looked in the direction from where the laughter came, I saw something move swiftly – something dark and greenish. I didn't have time for that. I pushed one of the spokes of the star between the girl's skin and the wine and pulled with all my might hoping the rather thin creeper to give way. Then something weird happened, which scared me so much that I dropped the staff and crawled couple of feet away from the girl. The circular figure illustrating my star and other constellations appeared once again on the ground on which, the girl and I were and in the place of the staff, which had slipped and fell to the ground, lay a magnificent sword.

I did the most obvious thing to do – use the sword to cut the wines off her foot. While contemplating what to do with an unconscious girl, Kero appeared out of nowhere, drifting peacefully from some invisible hideout. 'Where the hell have you been?' I screamed at him. 'Later,' he waved off and continued, 'I'll get her to her home; don't worry she isn't hurt!' So, it was Kero! Before I could scream anymore at him, he said, 'you go and catch whoever who did this!' 'You did this! Right?' I asked confused. 'No,' he shook his head, exasperated, 'Why would I want to hurt her?' I stared at him wondering how I would manage and how he could demand something like this out of me. 'Go! Shoo!' he shouted as he transformed into the huge lion-like creature and hoisted the unconscious girl onto his back and was off.

I stood there for a while standing awkwardly with a huge sword clutched in my sweaty hands. I gripped the hilt with my both hands and slowly walked into where the scattered woods turned to a nicely thick forest. I was half convinced that whatever did this mischief, the one who had laughed out exactly three times, was gone by then. It was completely dark in the forest; I could barely see myself but I felt a bit fearless mainly owing to the large and formidable-looking sword I had. On the lightest movement, I flung it in all directions expecting a scream or a growl or something like that. But nothing happened. I just proceeded forwards not sure of the direction and nearly cut down a tree, when I heard the laughter for the fourth time.

I looked all around – nothing. But I could feel movements all around me. By now my eyes had adapted to the darkness and I could make out the faint outlines of the trees and rocks and roots, which I had earlier tripped on. And after a few seconds I understood that what which my now-adapted eyes had taken for a tree was actually a man! At least it was something with a human form. It couldn't have been a human, for it seemed to have some projections from unlikely places. Gradually I started to see him clearly. I nearly screamed when I saw his face. The man was made of wood! He laughed again revealing a set of black teeth and charged forwards.

He was so fast that I couldn't really see him move. I felt a sharp blow on my stomach and I fell on the ground. The pain was so much that I was bend on myself but I didn't let go of the sword – it was my only means of survival. There was another laughter and instinctively I leaped to my right to dodge another attack. He didn't laugh the next time. I felt something sharp on my back and I was thrown off onto a tree, on which I hit painfully. This time I simply didn't have the strength to hold onto the sword – it slipped from my fingers and fell to the ground with a distinct clang. This time my assailant approached slowly – he seemed to enjoy this process. This gave me time to pick myself up on my legs. I swayed a bit but managed to stand facing the hard, moth-eaten-looking face. Now what? I felt totally foolish standing there.

He looked at me for a while before emitting another high-pitched laughter and shot forward with his arm extended and pointed at me. I moved away and took a good look at the 'arm' – it was a thick sharp wooden pole attached to his shoulder. He seemed quite angry at me dodging his attacks quite effectively. The pain on my back increased and I had to bend myself yielding to it. When I looked up he was again coming at me with his arm outstretched. The pain on my back increased to a maximum; I screamed not only because of the pain but also at the sight of the point of the spike inches away from my chest. The next moment I felt myself hoisted from the ground.

My face was wet and I could feel myself sobbing but nevertheless, I was aware of the fact that I was air borne. I had a pair of wings! Initially it seemed to work automatically, but then I felt like falling down again – I had to flap my wings to hold me air borne. It was a strange feeling and it was a stranger thing to see the treetops from such a height. But, weren't there a bit too many trees from up here? The whole expanse of land seemed to have filled with trees; the park was not in sight, nor were the buildings or anything at all – just trees. And while I was pondering up there, not knowing what else to do, something came shooting up – it was our wood-monster!

He shot just past me and I missed him by a few inches. It was weird using my newly formed appendages, but it worked just fine as I turned and flew away from him. He followed me, not exactly by flying – he just had elongated his legs and these legs were attached to the trees below and his legs seemed to be switching trees. Even at that moment I felt it quite funny to see actual branches grow out from his 'legs'. He was furious as ever and he still had his pointed, spear-like arm stuck out and he swung it in all directions, now there were no hindrances. How much ever I tried, I couldn't increase my speed and I was feeling more and more exhausted. I had to get my sword back. I remembered what Mrs. Li had said about her son not exactly having to carry his sword or something like that. I concentrated had on my staff and my sword and even cried aloud for it, but nothing happened.

I had only one choice – go down and get it. Flying down was much easier and very soon, I found myself submerged in the darkness of the forest. I ran frantically searching for the sword; I had tried locating the area, while I was descending and I had a vague idea. I heard the laughter behind me and I ran faster. It was very difficult running with a pair of wings attached to your back especially when the space to run was limited by gigantic tees and their roots stuck out; I didn't want to make my wings disappear lest I want to fly again. And I beheld a gleam much beyond me, coming through a small slit-space between two trees. I tried to get to it, but the laughter grew louder. After running a few meters, I realized the gleam, presumably from the sword, had gone. I ran in the opposite direction, again I saw it, and then it was gone. It was very frustrating and I didn't know what to do, until I turned back to find my face only about a feet away from the monster's.

I screamed and leapt to my right and my right 'wing' hurt badly when my weight crushed it on the ground. But before I could do anything, I felt a sharp and painful grip on my left ankle. I was horrified to see him squatting and pulling my leg. He was smiling wide and I could see black teeth. I screamed again and I must have flapped my arms around pointlessly, for it hit something hard – my sword. It was pure instinct to save once own life rather than presence of mind, which had made me, actually use it. I went for it and thrust it straight at the direction of the monster without looking, where I was aiming. It got him on his face. He gave a high-pitched scream before letting me go.

I felt a bit sick for it is the first time I'm sticking a meter-long blade into a person's face – then it occurred to me that I'd actually committed a murder. I stood up looking at my sword; there was no blood on it. Then I looked on the ground to look at the body. But there was no body. I could hear a faint continuous noise from ahead of me. I walked to see the source and was quite shocked to see a completely transparent creature very much resembling a human-child, sitting on a stone and weeping. It was green in color and had red eyes. On seeing me, it became air-borne and started to fly rather clumsily. While I was standing looking at it fly and hitting onto the trees, I heard movement behind me; I swung around sharply with sword ready only to see Kero in his real form.

'Nice job, Sakura!' he said smiling and started walking leisurely towards me, when I rushed forward and hit on his head using the butt of the sword's hilt. His 'ouch' was so loud that I was nearly thrown off. 'You idiot! Why did you leave me?' suddenly I felt something soft and cold near my legs and on looking down I saw the small green baby revolving around near my legs; I jumped and moved away; I asked, 'what is that?' 'You fought him a while ago and now you're asking me what that is?' Kero asked. 'I fought…?' That monster turned into a baby, when I thrust a sword into its head? 'This is a wood spirit, a benign one, will not harm people,' Kero said and looked at the baby fondly.

'Benign?' I asked ludicrously, 'BENIGN? He tried to kill me!' 'Sakura, Sakura,' he said slightly rolling his eyes, 'anyway, capture him.' 'What?' 'You know, do your thing!' Kero said. I turned my sword back into the staff. And at that particular moment, the green thing took off. 'Hey, come back here,' I started to run after it. I was weak from that night's ordeal and besides that creature was way too fast. 'Sakura, use your jump card!' Kero called out. 'How do I do that?' I cried out. 'The same way as you summoned sword card and fly card!' They were cards! I'd not really summoned them, I just wanted to use them and they'd come. I ran at my fastest and screamed 'Jump!' and I made a leap into the air, which was quite difficult with the trees around. And lo, I soared well above the heights of the trees and landed smoothly way ahead of the so-called wood-spirit.

Its eyes widened on seeing me and it tried to halt and turn back but too late, I'd already brought my staff down again on its head and it let out a cat-like screech and disappeared. For a second everything seemed to stay still. Then after what which seemed like an hour to me, I could hear bustling noises and with a jolt I realized what is happening – the trees around me are also disappearing. And while I stood there shocked, the park and Kero became visible to me. Kero had transformed back and soared slowly towards me and gave me a thumps up sign. I looked behind me – once there was a huge forest, in which I'd fought the monster, but now it had some bushes and had a dead end as on the other side of the greenery, situated a street. Seeing a normal surrounding made me realize how tired and broken-down I felt at that particular moment. And when I turned to Kero again, he held up something and said, 'it belongs to you,' and on his stub-like hand was a magnificent card, with the picture of the constellations on one side and a picture of the green baby smiling at me shyly, on the other.

'This is a Clow card?' I asked admiring the card from all angles. 'No, no, it's your own card,' he said shaking his small head, 'you captured the wood spirit and turned him into a card.' This was all too confusing. 'So where exactly are the Clow cards?' I asked, since I'd heard so much about them. 'There are no longer any Clow cards. You transformed all of them into your star cards,' and pausing to take a breath, he continued, 'Now you're creating new ones to… may I say, add to your collection!' Why bother with all these? I was living happily until one fine morning your stuffed toy is talking nonsense. Was I happy? I didn't want to think about it. Anyway, I didn't have to duel with monsters mid-air. 'Is it my first original card?' I asked. 'Good question, but the answer, I think, is no!' Kero said. 'I'd made more cards before?' I asked awestruck. 'I'm not really sure, you'll know when you use them.'

'You call them cards! I don't see any fly, jump or sword cards,' I said as we walked away from the park. 'Oh, you wanna see them?' Kero asked surprised and then added, 'ok, here you go…' He did what which seemed like a somersault and then lo, standing suspended on mid air, three magnificent cards with picture of the constellations on them. Kero did another of his number and they flew obediently to rest in my outstretched palm. I inspected them. Looking at them, I forgot about my pain and fear and tiredness. One had the picture of a swan, another a rabbit and another a magnificent sword. I placed the wood fairy along with it and strangely felt sad. I longed to know what more cards I have and what were the ones, which I had previously made myself. But I guess I have to use them to know and see them.

I sighed and dragged myself forward wondering how I'm to reach home in this condition. Maybe Kero would carry me, the same way he did the girl. I'd totally forgotten about her until then. 'Kero how's that girl?' I asked a now drifting Kero. 'Which girl? Oh that girl. She's fine, though she'll be wondering about the plants and forest and her being dragged off like that.' Suddenly I felt a wave of anger towards him, 'You were supposed to be helping me out there, when I was fighting to hold onto my dear life,' I bellowed shaking my fist threateningly at his puffed up face. 'Fight for life!' he let out a weird guffaw and said, 'don't tell me that thing is capable of killing you. He might scare people by dragging them into the forest but…' I interrupted, 'That thing changes into a monster while in the forest and then uses its spear-like arm to stab people,' I said in a tone resembling that of a pissed out Yui's. 'Are you sure?' Kero asked looking at me doubtfully.

Kero and Yue are supposed to be helping me fight. Oh, yes, there was one more person who's to help me and the only help he's done so far was kiss me. I asked Kero to clear off and said that I don't want to see his stuffed up visage ever again and stalked off in a very violent manner. That was not a good move as my whole body hurt in the process. But I didn't care. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, for what exactly I didn't know, I felt lonely, betrayed, abandoned and strangely heart-broken. Honestly I didn't really wish Kero to go away, but he had. I was all alone in the dark and the street looked excessively creepy. I pressed a button on my digital watch and I saw the time to be 3:20 AM. I let out a loud wail and collapsed on the ground. Suddenly I heard hurrying footsteps behind me. I looked back and I saw the figure of a man running towards me.

I picked myself up quickly and ran as fast as I could with the energy I possessed then, which was meager. I knew he would be gaining over me in due time. Merely to buy time to think what card I could use against him, I limped and hopped and dragged myself as fast as I could until I heard my name being called out, loud and clear. By this time, I'd heard this voice so many times that I knew who it was immediately. As he came closer, I could clearly see Toya. 'Sakura,' he said once again as he came near. He surveyed me from head to foot and said, 'What have you been up to?' I merely blinked at him; I hadn't had decided whether to remain mad at him or forgive him and let him take me home somehow. 'Yue had sent me to get you. He said that he'd have gone but, well, he's having problems with Yukito.' 'And I come here to find you sitting on the road and crying,' he said; he looked so sorry that it was impossible for me to be still angry with him.

'I'd have rather preferred Yue though,' I said jokingly, 'he could've carried me and flied all the way to the hostel.' He laughed, though he looked a bit unhappy at this suggestion. After a few moments of silence he said, 'I could carry you, you know,' and looked at me, but at the look of avulsion on my face, said no more. 'Once back in school you went sick and I had to carry you all the way to home; you were so light-weight back then!' he said happily. 'I don't think I've grown up since then, so it may be as easy for you now,' and seeing his expression, immediately added, 'not that I want you to.' Suddenly I asked, 'how's Yukito?' He pulled a face and said, 'Not too happy with life, right now. But at least we're friends now. Again, that is!'

When we reached hostel, I wondered if I could sneak myself in without awakening the warden. She'd be mad at me for coming so late and that too accompanied by a guy (not to mention my extremely shabby appearance). I voiced this concern, to which, he replied, 'You're going with your brother. We'll say you met with an accident and was taken by your brother, who was too dumb to take you to a clinic, instead took you to his apartment and after giving some words of consolation, is taking you back to the hostel!' I was too caught up with the word brother that it took a while for me to register this rather too dumb suggestion. I asked, not really meaning it, 'Are you sure you want to make it public that you're my brother? Some people might be shocked!' Toya gave a small smile and said, 'You needn't worry about Chel and me. I don't like her so much nor does she – she seems to be madly in love or something. We were merely fooling around!'

So she was loyal to Li! Toya had said that to make me feel better, but I felt worse. 'Believe me, Sakura, she really…' he said trying to convince me that she likes someone else. 'I know, I believe you! It's just…' I stopped wondering whether I should say, 'it's just that she's… It's Li…' 'Oh,' he said and then we walked silently. We had already reached the formidable looking building, which we called hostel. 'Want me to come?' he asked smiling. 'No, I'll manage,' I said though I had no idea how to. He didn't leave until I was inside the grounds. I waved in such a manner that he was forced to wave back and leave. I honestly didn't want our warden to know, but it was impossible to get in, past the security, without her knowledge. I could see the light inside the security's room and I slowly walked towards it wishing I had money to bribe him. Then I nearly jumped as something brushed against my face. It was Kero.

'Sakura,' he called almost apologetically, 'I didn't really think that spirit would be very dangerous!' I made a face and said, 'so you decided to leave me all alone in the street at midnight?' Kero looked scandalized and said, 'No, I saw Toya. I thought that you two'd want to be alone.' I sighed and said, 'It's all right. Just tell me how I could get in without letting anyone know.' I looked up to see light coming from my room. Kero screwed up his face as though deep in thought and said, 'where's your room again?' I pointed out. 'You can use your jump card!'

I kind of did have a similar idea when I asked Toya to leave but it felt strange. 'Let me see if there're any other cards. Then you could rejuvenate one more card today.' Suddenly Kero's face lit up and he said, 'I know. Use your wood card!' 'What?' I asked horrified, 'That thing might try to murder me again!' 'Not the spirit you'd captured today,' he said shaking his small head, 'there's a wood card, which you'd transformed as a kid.' Kero asked me to go near a tree nearest to my room. Though there were many trees around, none were close enough to jump to our room. I voiced this at which Kero slapped his head and said, 'you don't use wood card for jumping, idiot!'

Upon Kero's instructions, I went near a tree and picturised myself being hoisted to my room somehow and cried out – 'Wood Card!' Then something, which didn't happen with the other cards, happened. I head a swishing sound and a card materialized in front of me and suspended mid air, slowly revolving showing off it's both sides. I saw the constellations and on the other I saw something a beautiful female form surrounded by leaves, not at all similar to the wood-monster I'd fought with earlier. It remained like that for a couple of seconds until, I felt the ground upon which I stood shake. And the next minute, a tree, apparently an offshoot from the one near which I'd stood, started to grow beneath me. My legs gave way and I sat on a thick trunk, which as though reading my mind, grew only until it reached our window. It stopped there and feeling dazed I stood up cautiously and tapped on the window. Almost immediately the window flew open and two strong hands caught me by the shoulders and hauled me in. And then the owner of the hands let out a cry seeing on what I stood.

'Shh! You'll wake up others!' I said to a horrified Yui. 'What… what… is that?' she asked pointing to the tree. I looked out uncertainly and wished for Kero as to ask how I should make it go. It simply remained there as though waiting for an order. I faced the tree and said, 'Er… thanks. Now you can go… I don't mean to be rude but…!' I clutched at my hair and pulled at it. Yui was sitting on the bed looking completely shocked. 'Go back to normal,' I said and nearly added please when it disappeared into darkness. 'Whew!' I collapsed beside Yui. She was apparently scanning me and said, 'Whatever had happened to you?' Before I could answer her, I heard another swish and again the wood card appeared and fell on my open palm and then disappeared once again.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: YUKITO OR YUE?**

I had a very difficult time explaining to Yui what had really transpired. I had to even produce my cards to prove that I really did all those, which I had claimed to. Actually I cut short the fighting part and made it sound a very simple affair. I could feel the injustice flaring up within me, but I just didn't have the heart to shock her to such an extent. But, as I said to her, I couldn't really understand the last card, which I'd used. All the others, I just had to just wish I had those, and I just got them. But I actually summoned Wood card. No sooner I'd voiced this, but I heard a drawl from the window. There came drifting in, a very sulky looking stuffed-toy, Kero.

Yui looked very nervous, but after pacifying her, I asked Kero to be specific, for he'd just made a sound. 'You can manipulate these cards any way you want, Sakura. You just have to use them properly, which you did! I'm proud of ya!' he said giving me a supposedly thumps up. I pretended to sulk though I really glowed at this complement. Yui whispered in my ear, 'ask him to go away…' Kero looked very suspiciously as he saw her talking but said, 'I have to talk something about Yue,' Yui gave a start at this, I bet she heard 'Yui' and Kero continued, 'Privately!' Since it's about Yue, I didn't see what's there to be private about. 'Oh, let Yui be here,' I said, but Yui was already up and hurried to the door. Obviously she didn't want to be there.

'So what about Yue…' I asked. 'Didn't Toya tell you?' Kero asked. As a matter of fact he had, he'd said that Yue and Tsukishiro had problems. By the way weren't they both the same? 'Yeah he did say something…' I said noncommittally. 'Yukito had freaked out when Toya went and told him all those things,' he said, 'And well, Yue made his contribution to freak him out further and now Yukito believes that he's suffering from split-personality problems. And well, he won't let Yue transform.' Well, I didn't really know how to respond to this. 'It's his right, isn't it? I mean, if Tsukishiro doesn't want to…' I said and stopped seeing the flabbergasted look on Kero's face. 'Doesn't want to? DOESN'T WANT TO? His mere existence is for Yue's survival. We're not giving him a choice here, Sakura!' he said vehemently. I must have looked doubtful for he said something, which made me see it in a new light, 'Yue's trapped!'

'Oh,' I said. What else can I say? I felt strangely depressed. I mean, I was not that attached to Yue yet, but still I felt weird. 'You have to talk to him,' Kero said, 'Yukito won't listen to Toya now and he'll go mad if he sees me!' 'What will I say?' I asked not at all happy at this suggestion. 'Tomorrow after class you could see him and talk it over. You shouldn't be overheard…' My mind was far away in a town named Tomoeda, where I could clearly see a thin boy in school uniform, his one hand swung over Toya's shoulder and the other waving vigorously at me. And then he threw something at me. I caught it – it was candy.

I managed to convince myself that it was no big deal, just walk into the room where the majors had class and just suggest a private conversation with Tsukishiro. Just answer his questions, look intelligent and walk out. In case he attacks, I decided to use jump card. In that way he won't get hurt and hopefully observers might think, I'm just being agile. But in fact I felt very unsure and a bit scared. I had never actually seen Tsukishiro in person after Toya had his chat with him. What if he goes berserk? I badly wanted Toya there with me while I dealt with the situation. Yui didn't ask questions, which was fine but she looked at me furtively as though I might start using cards any time now. I somehow managed to go to sleep. It wasn't easy as my whole body hurt because of my escapade and my mind throbbed with my task for tomorrow. But after long last, I did manage.

'Sakura, Sakura! Oh, no!' said a voice frightened. 'It's ok, she's just sleeping…' said another. 'Sakura, Sakura! Oh no! Oh no, no, no!' said the voice again. She was reassured by the other voice again. That had to stop. I opened my eyes hesitantly to see Yui bending over me looking thoroughly frightened. Soon, I felt an acute difficulty to breathe as I was trapped within a pair of strong arms. 'Let go of her,' the other voice, that of Kero's said. I got up, only to realize that it's not an easy task. I felt very heavy and groggy. 'Wazzatime?' I asked, my tongue not working properly. 'It's ten mins past nine!' said Yui. 'Oh Lord,' saying this, I slumped back again on the bed.

I was, very obviously, sick. Yui kept insisting that I should be taken to the hospital and that I might have suffered terrible injuries as a result of yesterday's adventure, but Kero will not hear of it. 'She's going to be ok. And she's going to college today…' he said now looking at me, 'You have to meet Yukito, remember?' Crap! I really didn't feel like moving a muscle. 'She's not going!' said Yui, in a snarl so terrifying that I bolted up, 'to hell with Yukito and these stupid cards. She's sick!' It was Kero's turn to look terrified. 'You don't understand…' he began timidly but Yui cut across, 'She's sick! Because of you and all that cards… Just leave her alone, all right?' Now Kero looked as intimidating as a stuffed up toy can and said, 'Listen to me, missie. We're doing this for her good! If Yukito is left to his will, he'll probably end up in a mental hospital and Yue will die!' As Yui opened her mouth, he immediately said, 'Oi, shh! I know you don't care a dot for Yue. But he's there to protect Sakura. And by not letting him out, you're letting her walk straight into danger.'

Yui marched out of the room at this and slammed the door shut. We both stared after her. 'I know you're not well today, Sakura,' Kero said softly, 'but this should be done as soon as possible before irrevocable damage has been done.' Yui came back in after a few minutes and said, 'we've already missed two classes. Are you coming or are you not?' She looked very angry so I got up and started to get ready as fast as possible. Kero hid himself in his usual hiding place and only after he was well out of sight, Yui came to help me about. 'You should remain in bed,' she muttered. 'But Yue…' I said, but she hushed me and said, 'I know, I know… Hey you just pulled on your blouse inside out!'

I felt better as I got out and felt the fresh morning air rush through my lungs. When I said this, Yui remarked it was no longer morning. We didn't hurry, since if we did, we'll get to the college in the middle of our second class. So we strolled on hoping no one sees us at this time. Not that it matters, but Yui has got a reputation. I remember wishing for Toya sometime the day before and I couldn't help smile as I saw him walking towards us presently. Yui looked nervously at me, she knew we were fighting. But I reassured her with a smile and a shrug. 'Where were you? I was scanning this place for nearly two hou… Are you all right Sakura?' he asked.

'Sorry you had to wait, Toya,' I said trying to change the subject and did my best to look refreshed. 'She did something weird yesterday and she's sick because of that,' Yui said. I glared at her. He had a pained expression on his face as he scanned me. 'I'm so sorry,' he said, 'Yukito is…' he stopped and suddenly looked angry, 'and where was Li?' 'Forget it all. I'm fine now. Today I'm going to have a nice long chat with Tsukishiro and make him see reason,' I said though I knew that what I was going to say was not very reasonable. 'That's another reason why I came,' he said looking very grave and then threw a suspicious expression at Yui. With an exasperated sigh, Yui shrugged and was about to leave, when I grabbed her arm and said, 'She's in this with me.'

'You have to talk to Yukito,' he said softly as we moved on, 'But, you see, Sakura, he's in a very vulnerable condition. You have to be very careful. One wrong word and he'll go to pieces,' he said, his eyes wide with concern. Seeing Yui's expression, he added, 'we used to be very close friends before – me and Yukito.' This made me very nervous; I am not a master of human emotions and psychiatry. How can I convince him? 'It's all my fault. I took it for granted that he'll accept it as easily as he had nearly seven years back. He hadn't had freaked out at all then…' Toya said, his eyes looking at some faraway object.

Toya left as we approached college, a feat that would have been accomplished long ago if we had been enthusiastic enough. I really didn't want to sit in the class. I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. I had to wait for so long. But as the last class approached, after which I had to see Tsukishiro, I wished the class didn't get over. I didn't really want to deal with it. I almost cried when our professor bade us good-bye and left. I sat still, in middle of the usual end-of-the-class chaos, unable to believe my present predicament. 'Sakura,' a voice called from behind, which made me jump. It was Li.

I had completely forgotten about Li. I forgot about the kiss and to become awkward about it and also that I was angry with him for not helping me the other day. 'Sakura,' he said, 'Did something happen yesterday?' he asked in a hushed voice. Something happen! 'Yes, talk about it later… Guoen…!' I pointed at nowhere in particular and as he jerked his head to look behind him, I gathered my stuff and ran out of the class. I could feel people running after me. I say people, because there was more than one. I am not sure who all were there, but I knew that one was Li and the other Yui. But I didn't turn around. I just ran until I reached the staircase and then quickly ascended the steps until it was the fourth floor. I gasped for breath as I headed towards the small room at the end of the corridor, where held the Monday seminars of major students in Math. And I peeped inside to see only two girls. He was not there.

I inquired: class got over early, so he left early. Should I go to the hostel now? I wondered, not at all happy about that prospect. I hate going to that wretched building and he could easily escape talking to me there. As I was about to leave, I heard a yell coming out from a makeshift library near the stairs. The voice sounded familiar, but that this voice should yell, presumably angrily, was very strange. It was definitely Tsukishiro's. I knew that entry was restricted, but I pushed open the door and entered a brightly lit place filled with books. And amidst those books sat only two people – a guy I didn't know, who was practically cowering with fright because of the way Yukito Tsukishiro was behaving right then.

The other guy realized my presence much earlier than Tsukishiro, who went on with his harangue, which was the lack of attention he paid to his work, meaning that the other guy was an undergraduate. Following UG's gaze, Tsukishiro's grey eyes locked with mine and I felt like cowering too, when I saw them blaze with anger. 'You again!' he growled at me. This gave the UG ample opportunity to flee. 'I wanted to talk…' I said uncertainly. 'I don't want to listen to any of the crap you have to say,' he went on disregarding my horrified expression, 'if you want to believe in all those bullshit, just go ahead. But leave me out of it.' He immediately sat down and ran his fingers through his hair and didn't look at me. I felt horrified as I saw his face – it had a maniacal look with wide eyes and a murderous expression. Then he shot up again and within two long strides he was beside me.

I gasped as he took me by the shoulder and jerked me close to him. He looked straight into my eyes, searching. 'Who are you people?' he asked. 'We're your friends…' I said timidly but, 'SHUT UP!' he screamed into my face at which I turned my face and I could feel my eyes welling up. I felt the grasp soften a bit as tears slid down my face. But he didn't say anything. The only response I got was some sort of a frantic panting emanating from him. 'We used to go to school together' I swallowed my fear and called him, 'Yukito; you don't remember, neither did I. But then Clow Reed…' Before I could finish he gave a skeptical guffaw and let go of me. I rubbed my arms where he's grabbed me, he was immensely strong. 'Your brother told me about Clow Reed, Keruberos and Yue. I am supposed to be Yue!' he said almost to himself and continued, 'and ever since, I hear voices within me talking… asking me, ordering me and later pleading, to let him out. To help you!' His eyes welled up as well as he said, 'I am mad! Even madder is that strangely I remember all these things about Yue… Toya and Yue.' I felt a tiny ray of hope as he'd just called my brother, 'Toya'.

'You don't have to do anything,' I moved closer feeling a bit bolder, 'But please don't think you're mad. You're not. Yue exists. Deep within you! Yue and you are the one and the same thing.' 'Toya, why did he…?' he asked me miserably. He didn't tell me exactly what Toya did to him, but I had a feeling it had something to do with the revelation. 'If you don't let Yue out, his magic dies, and then… then you also cease to exist. I won't forgive myself if you just disappear. Please don't hate me, Yukito, I didn't have a choice in this matter myself. And don't hate Toya; he might have taken it for granted that you'd accept this easily, but he's sincerely concerned about you. Don't hate us,' I pleaded now straining my neck to get a good look at his eyes. 'Will he really die then? Yue?' he asked sounding so much like a small child that I wanted to say no, but I myself wasn't sure, nor did I want to discourage him from letting Yue out. 'He said Yue will, if I hold any longer,' he said slowly, 'But I think I'll go mad… Sakura, I'm scared.' The murderous blaze had long gone from his eyes and was replaced with fear. Something made me say what I said: 'don't be scared, Yukito. Nothing _will_ go wrong. I won't let anything go wrong.'

He had to bend only a bit to reach my face and he used his lithe lady-like fingers to wipe away a small drop of tear from my cheek. He smiled and then came closer and closed the little space between us. I automatically brought my arms around his waist and held firmly. I really didn't know whether I was giving comfort or getting comfort. But anyways, it felt good and more than that, it felt the right thing to be done under the present circumstances. I suddenly felt a familiar sensation, which was hard to explain – a mixture of warmth and cold and something which would make you palpitate so much that your heart starts to ache – all this happened and I screwed my eyes shut because I knew what was happening. He was transforming.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself holding a silver white creature and I could feel feathers brush against my skin as I took my hands off him. I looked up to meet the cold gaze of Yue. He merely looked cold, I knew. 'Thank you Sakura,' he said. That was the only thing he said. He merely stood there looking at me, looking through me to be more precise, for I knew he was lost in his own thoughts. 'Yue,' I called him, 'how do you feel?' He looked weary, almost sick. By then, I'd forgotten my little ailment. He knelt down and looked up as though in worship and said, 'I'm so sorry Sakura, that you had to fight alone, yesterday. Keruberos was also preoccupied by my problems. We couldn't do anything. You could have been murdered…' 'Let's forget it, Yue,' I said, not liking myself pictured dead, 'I'm glad to have you back!' And then I did something unexpected and a bit silly, I knelt in front of him and threw my arms around his neck and again shed a few tears, but this time, definitely because of happiness and relief.

He didn't say much except that he should transform back, it's not safe to look like this in a college library. He closed his wings around him and when the wings disappeared, Yukito was standing in his place. He looked a bit bewildered and at first quite surprised to see me. Then things dawned to him and though he smiled, I could feel all the strain he was subjected to. 'You must go home and take rest, Yukito,' I said wisely. 'A boy said he wanted me to clear something. Oh no, did he come?' he asked almost to himself. 'I'm afraid he did. You don't remember… he was there when I came in,' I said. 'Oh no, I shouted at him. And he left…' he said, his hands running through the back of his neck, 'this is all too embarrassing, Sakura!'

As we both walked out, he asked if I really did face anything dangerous yesterday. I did the same thing as I did to Yui, gave a very short and friendly version of my adventure, lest he should feel guilty. 'No, no, you're lying,' he said shaking his head, 'Yue tells me that he should've been there and you were nearly…' 'It's ok, really. I'm fine. Kero was there,' I lied, only to realize that he wouldn't know who Kero would be, 'Kero is…' But, he said, 'I know, short for Keruberos.' Yue must have told all these and probably that's why he was nearly crazy. I mean, imagine a voice always speaking from inside and that too of strange and impossible things! I empathized with him and again advised him to rest. He initially insisted we go together, but I thought it'd be better if no one saw us together. He again muttered a bit about the 'poor boy' and left.

I was no longer in a hurry, that is, when compared to my state when I reached the library. I gave Yukito a long head start, before dragging myself up. I wondered whether I should lock up after me. I decided not to, since the question of what an UG was doing there, would arise. And I left the door ajar and turned only to find myself inches away from Li. He didn't look very happy. He looked rather agitated. 'Why did you run away?' he asked. I started to walk as I said, 'Because you were chasing me!' 'I… I wasn't chasing you. I wanted to talk to you,' he said now walking beside me. When I reached the top of the stairs, I said, 'About what?' 'Yesterday. I mean, I could sense…' he trailed off. I started my climb down wondering whether he was lying. But who else could've told him? Kero hadn't left me since then. Now he's in my room. And Toya is not likely to have told him. And then how did he…?

'Please tell me what had happened? I had this feeling that you were in danger and now I see you looking like…' he said. I stopped and turned back and said, in what I believe in a friendly tone, 'something happened, but now I'm ok. We can't talk here,' I said almost in whisper as I sense some footsteps climbing up. We descended the rest of the steps, quietly. And we went our own ways; he went with Guoen and I with Yui. Yui looked nervous as she asked me how it went. I gave a blow-by-blow account, quite happy with myself, but instead of cheering up, she felt horrified, 'You know all the things which a mad man could do?' 'He's not mad!' I said quite irritated. 'But you said he'd almost flipped,' she retorted. I rolled my eyes in exasperation, 'Anyways, he's sane now!'

Throughout our walk back home, she kept questioning his sanity and went on to say that she knew he was an unstable character and they shouldn't make him teach, etcetera. As I'd wished, there was Toya waiting at the gates. He looked a total wreck and brightened up a bit when he saw me looking positive. 'What happened?' he asked. 'It went ok,' I said and soon enough Yui had started to say something to contradict but I interrupted, 'I saw Yue.' 'Really?' he asked a bit wide-eyed, 'What did he say?' 'He said he was sorry about yesterday…' I began, but Yukito and his face loomed in front of me, 'Yukito was so freaked out and scared, Toya. I wonder if it's a good idea to force him to…' A terrible silence followed, at the end of which Yui said, 'I should leave.'

Yui left. And Toya and I walked as slowly as possible towards the hostel. I wanted to tell him so much, yet I was at a total loss for words. 'We have no choice,' he said almost in a whisper. 'That's what Kero had said,' I said feeling a bit angry, 'Will Yue really kick the bucket? I mean, he's a spirit for God's sake! And will Yukito really disappear?' 'Yes he will!' Toya said abruptly. His face was remarkably calm yet looked so disturbed that it reminded me of Yukito's. I felt terribly guilty for having to make him go through all these. For what? My safety! 'I know how it feels, Sakura. It's not for you alone that Yukito needs to bring Yue out,' he said now facing me, 'It's not just for the existence of Yue either. It's for Yukito as much as it's for either of you. Yukito's existence becomes meaningless,' he said and looked up at the evening sky and even though there were no stars then, he continued, 'His destiny is all written up there. It's linked with yours and Yue's and mine. And probably even with that brat's!' Then he looked up me and smiled broadly and if you looked closely, slyly and said, 'So stop feeling guilty, kid.'

After a bit more of pep talk, he left, with a promise that we'll meet soon. My head as well as the rest of my body felt remarkably heavy that evening. I decided not to attend classes the next day. Feeling a bit happier at this thought I entered the common room to see Yue reading a book. 'What's up?' I asked looking as casual as possible to avoid questions. 'Have you studied anything for the test? It's so unfair… They haven't really…' she began. I felt a jolt somewhere in my stomach. 'What test?' I asked. 'Today in the class it was announced, remember? Almost-surprise-test?' she said brandishing a thick text, with which I'd not even properly acquainted with. 'Oh no! I'd forgotten all about Physics after the exams,' I collapsed on a chair next to Yui's and whined. She patted my arm and asked me to get freshened up so that we'll study together.

I wasn't really aware of my pains until I got into the shower. Now that my mind was clear I could understand that I was not exactly the picture of the ideal healthy woman. There were dull blue patches on my both knees and my left thigh. And similarly colored patches, though more irregular elsewhere. And horror of horrors, as I tried to rub the side of my chest I nearly shrieked with pain. Gently I touched that area again and felt pain as well as a strange gritty feeling. I slunk down on the wet floor wondering what I'll do. I seemed to have a fractured rib. I wanted to howl. I think I did howl. I dried myself and with the door ajar I took a peep outside to see if anyone was about. When I saw no one, I walked out of the bathroom naked and closed the door from inside and took a good look at myself in the full-length mirror. Only to realize that there was a man in the room – Kero.

Ok, Kero is not a man, but that didn't stop me from pouncing on the bag, which housed the stuffed lion. 'Mph… mmph!' 'Sorry, came to ask you not to come out, I'm not decent', I said as I loosened the hold on the bag. 'Never decent… Strangling a sleeping…' was all that I heard. That pounce hadn't done any good to my fracture and it took me a while to make myself stand in front of the mirror again. Before I could appreciate the multicolored nudity, which stood in front of me, I heard knocking. 'Five minutes, Yui,' then I lost a bit of my control and whined, 'I think I have a fracture.' I almost thought of letting Yui see me with all my bruises when I heard a male voice say, 'You've got a fracture? Let me in, quick!' Even though I was thoroughly shocked I recognized that voice – Li. What was he doing there? As I was pulling on a pair of pants, he knocked again saying, 'Guoen might come in any moment now. Would you let me in?' 'Wait, wait…!' I nearly yelled out as I hurriedly put on some shirt-like thing, which only after opening the door, did I realize to be a raincoat and that too inside out!

'You have a fracture?' he hissed at me before pushing me in and closing the door behind us, 'You have a fracture? You didn't tell me it was that bad yesterday! And why are you wearing a rain coat?' I felt confused as to what I should say. If I gave him every tiny detail, he'll feel horribly guilty and if I don't, well, he won't know; he was a person who's supposed to know. So I went for the first option and felt a tiny pleasure as I saw his eyes widening with horror. And I concluded with an offhand, 'it was not that bad altogether!' 'You're injured, aren't you?' he asked, eyes still uncomfortably wide, 'you said you had a fracture.' Trying to keep the rather roomy rain coat as snug as possible, I said, 'I think it's a fracture, a rib. And it wasn't meant for you to hear!' That kept him quiet for a while.

'Rib fracture is quite common you know, I mean, you'd have already suffered a couple of rib fractures earlier without knowing it!' he said intelligently. 'No, I don't think so,' I said, 'not that it matters though. I can do nothing about it.' 'You could go to a hospital,' he suggested. 'No, no more hospital. How'll I explain all the bruises?' I said wondering how I'd have escaped Yui's hospital suggestion, if it were her and not Li who had heard me. 'You're very badly hurt yesterday night…' he said. I didn't really know if it was a question or a statement. 'I have some bruises besides the fracture,' I said suddenly realizing that he's too close for comfort and the image of us kissing came into my head and I closed my eyes and tried to shake it off. I seemed to have shaken my head. This made Li wear a strange expression and backed off a bit. 'Are you really all right?' he asked; now I knew he was alluding to my sanity. But hey, who could blame him, I was wearing a raincoat indoors.

Then he gave me the details of what had happened to him last night. By about midnight he had a strange sensation and woke up. He explained it as though someone was drowning him. And he could no longer sleep. He has a compass like thing (which came along with the sword), which rather than showing you the direction, shows you what you want to see. And he says he could practically hear me and see me as he ran through the streets with the compass and the sword (it'd have looked odd, if an observer had passed him) and finally he reached the park. 'That stupid pointer kept showing the center of the park, which felt a bit overgrown. And I revolved around that spot holding on to it but no use. I should have looked up!' he hit his head with the ball of his palm, quite too hard for a guy who failed to spot a flying girl. 'You wouldn't have seen anything,' I tried to console; 'the trees were too thick and probably magically interwoven.'

'So how did it feel?' he asked suddenly looking quite bright, 'How did it feel to use them? To fly?' It had felt great but if I didn't have a monster behind me, I'd have enjoyed it much better but I said, 'I was a bit too busy to appreciate it.' Suddenly he became a bit restless and walked about and said, 'Look, I know this isn't the time to ask,' and made me wait, while he ran his hands through his hair a couple of times, and gave me ample time to wonder whether he was going to put in the topic of kissing, but he said, 'I know something happened with regard to Yue and Keruberos… They weren't there, were they?' I sighed and said, 'No, they were not there'.

'You mean, you were all alone?' he asked, his face twisted with some emotion. 'Uh… yes!' I said. Initially I wanted him to suffer from guilt but it wasn't exactly his fault. All those who were expected there were tied up by their own strange problems. Li opened his mouth presumably to apologize, but I said, 'I'm fine now. Next time I'll give you a call before using the cards.' He took it as a hint to leave but as he approached the door, he turned and asked, 'How's Mr. Tsukishiro… er… Yue?' I didn't really want to say all that to an already horror-struck individual, so I said, 'Both're fine, now.' He nodded and turned towards the door. I couldn't even stand for long then, so I went back and sat on my bed. I kept staring at my toes waiting to hear the door slam, but I just heard a twist of the doorknob. I turned to see him standing with the door open a tiny bit and he was looking at something in the hall.

'Guoen?' I asked feeling very nervous. 'No, I wanted to ask…' he said and once again he turned to look at me. His face showed confusion, but all I noticed was that he was awfully handsome, especially when confused. His dark brown eyes seemed to quiver as his brain obviously churned out words for his mouth to say. 'Another time,' he finished and left. The door didn't slam, he'd left it open and I looked out of it helplessly, until a familiar figure materialized in front of me – Yui. She looked at me anxiously and asked me if she could come in. I tried to sound cool and indifferent when I said, 'Come in, we have to start studying.'

'What was all that about?' she asked. Obviously, I'm not going to get to study that night. 'He wanted to ask me about yesterday,' I said. She frowned, as she said, in a very obvious accusatory tone, 'wasn't he supposed to help?' 'He didn't know,' I said and felt a bit hot in the face when she started to smile at me obligingly. 'Why're you wearing this?' she asked with distaste, 'where you naked…?' Before she could jump into conclusions, I said, 'yes, I was assessing my injuries before he came in. This was what I could get hold of…' 'Are you injured?' she asked suddenly and tugged at the front of my raincoat. 'Huh… No!' I said as I yanked myself from her reach. She was frowning suspiciously and I had to tell her of a few off the bruises (the fracture was left unmentioned) but refused to stand naked in front of her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: I AM NOT ALONE**

Except the surprise test nothing abnormal happened for a while. Every day I expected some odd incident to take place so that I could do all card rejuvenating. Rather than the excitement I wanted the whole business to get over so that I can lead a normal life once again. Will I be ever able to lead a normal life? I once asked Kero. He ruthlessly said 'No!' Seeing my unhappy expression he was surprised, he thought that I didn't want it to get over. 'But Sakura,' he'd said, 'imagine the power you have!' Something, which Li'd said, came back to me then. Reed initially used it for his own benefits, like all 'evil' sorcerers do. 'So, if I gain so much power, won't I be evil?' I asked Kero. He gave a shrug and said, 'that's the crap Clow Reed used to say; Yue and I paid no attention. We thought he did great!'

Kero once again reminded me that I'd made some cards on my own, about which he didn't recollect. Neither did I. So how was I supposed to rejuvenate the cards, which I don't even remember? He asked me to concentrate on ones, which either of us remembers. I strongly suspected that one of the cards, which I made, was something concerning Li. Could there be a Li-card? Something which when I use would conjure Li in front of me. That would be useful, wouldn't it be, if I' in trouble, I just have to use my Li-card. I could also use it for various other purposes…

Many months passed by without many disturbances. Well, some disturbance did take place, only some of which I would relate, since many of them involved Guoen and an embarrassed me. Guoen was apparently seeing both Li and Toya. I knew this, but I didn't ask Toya, since I liked the current friendly relation we were having. And Guoen knew that both these guys had some sort of an interest in me, which she didn't like. So Guoen utilized many of our lab lessons to torture me. But I controlled myself by repeating in my head that we had to endure Physics only for three more months. After that goodbye to torture.

One fine morning, I saw Li running towards me, ignoring a fuming Guoen. He was brandishing a crumpled papery stuff in his hand. He gasped and thrust that thing (which happened to be a paper cover) in my hand and assumed a posture, which practically screamed at me to open in right there, right now. I did open it and looked up to see both Li and Guoen. 'What's that?' she asked, the audience being optional. It was a letter written by an obviously female handwriting, which was addressed to Li but the inquiries were all about me and declared that she was coming to our place the coming Sunday and demanded both Li's and my presence. It was signed, Tomoyo Daidoji. Before I could read it again, Guoen snatched in from my hand and read it. And then looked at both of us, thoroughly puzzled.

'Who's Tomoyo?' she asked, looking very unpleasant, 'Why does she want you and _her_ … to go to… meet her?' I looked at Li hoping that he'll provide an appropriate answer. 'Tomoyo… Daidoji is an old school friend… of ours,' he said slowly. 'What do you mean?' she asked me, her eyes a pair of dangerous looking slits. 'We three used to be friends,' he said, now looking at me, 'back at school.' She looked at the letter again, this time, I was sure she wasn't reading, as her eyes remained stationary. She put the letter back into Li's hands and crossed her arms around her chest and made a weird sound and walked away. We both stared nervously after her. He unraveled the slightly squashed paper and stared into it before walking out on me.

I called him that night. It was the first time (in the post-memory-erase-era) I called him over the phone. He didn't know my number and I heard a very confused voice asking me who I was. After clearing that point, I asked the particulars of the letter. He spoke in such a low voice that I had to ask him to repeat most of what which he said. 'This Sunday… at the college visiting room… 5:30 PM! Guoen is here!' Then he hung up on me. 'So…' an interested Yui asked, 'why the sudden interest in calling him?' I hadn't had given her the explanation for asking his number. I took a deep breath and narrated what had happened that morning before class.

Unlike both Li and I, Yui looked very happy after this. 'This is great! Now Guoen will have to put up with you two being friends! She called you Sakura and him Li, right, so she was your friend. Why did she write to him?' she mused. 'Ah, she was a nice girl,' Kero said, making both of us jump, 'I remember she had a crush on Sakura and was obsessed with taking her photos and videos.' 'That's interesting,' Yui said despite her never-ending fear of Kero. I felt a bit disturbed at this possible homosexual friend of mine. But she must've been only eleven or something then. 'But she knew about your crush on Yukito and later about Li's crush on you, so didn't confess to you. By the way, Li also had a crush on Yukito,' Kero finished and floated on his back. My head reeled at this love triangle, no quadrangle. I shook my head on it – we're talking of a bunch of kids here!

I wanted Yui to be there with us, when we meet Tomoyo. I wanted to introduce her, for some strange reason. Yui was totally opposed to that idea. 'She was your friend! Why should I be there?' she asked. But I pleaded and pleaded until she pointed out, 'Li might not like it!' I wasn't planning to ask his permission anyways. I initially looked forward for that Sunday but later when I thought about her being mute and it being all my fault I started to dread her arrival. Besides what could a mute person gain from a meeting like this? She wont be able to talk, would she? Kero said he hadn't seen her for a long time, so he didn't know. He also seemed a bit nervous to talk about her. He kept saying he had a strange sensation, though he didn't know why.

Finally that day came. I dragged an irritated Yui with me to the college on Sunday evening. I kept Kero in my bag. Visitors are not allowed in the office unless you have a prior permission, so we naturally headed to the Dean's building. It's a big building a few blocks away from the main college. Unlike the college, which is a modern building, this building looked a bit ancient. It was single storey but awfully stretched out. We never understood why Dean would require such a big building. Yui had once pointed out that he might actually live in there with his extended family. But that day we proceeded in silence until we met Li and Guoen.

Guoen! He had brought Guoen! Of course she would insist on coming, I mean, an old friend, a girl, coming to meet her boyfriend. And besides, she had as much right to be there as Yui has. I opened my bag and hissed to Kero to keep himself inside – he was longing to see Tomoyo. All I heard was an 'Awww!' Yui was now very unhappy to be there since Guoen was there. I apologized but refused to let her go. 'Hello,' Li started looking quite puzzled but was interrupted by Guoen: 'What's she doing here?' 'Same as what you're doing here!' I snapped back. Yui looked as though she might kiss me. But Li and Guoen were thoroughly displeased. 'Are we going to wait inside?' I asked Li, ignoring some noises coming from Guoen. 'Why not?' he asked before leading the other three into the building.

We had to give some explanation to the security and the vice principal before making ourselves comfortable in the visiting room. And then we waited. We didn't wait for any more than ten minutes maximum, but it felt like an eternity sitting opposite the concerned couple, one very puzzled and the other murderous. My partner wasn't very helpful in that respect; she made impatient noises, which reminded me of Kero. They're both having immense influence on each other, I thought. Kero himself was obviously restless as I felt constant thumpings from within my handbag. And finally, the door opened. And in walked Tomoyo.

I wouldn't say I remembered my entire childhood or anything, but memories rushed in as I saw her. Memories of time spend with her, in my house, in her house, in the school… She was a pretty girl with long curly black hair and something about her appearance showed ill health. She stood at the door way for a moment gaping at all of us (we were standing now) probably wondering which among the three girls is her old friend. To my immense surprise, it was me who walked forwards and I stopped when I was a couple of feet away from her. And I reached out and held her hand and called her by her name. She grinned at me and then made a face as though she might cry any moment and before I could do anything, she threw her arms around me and sobbed into my hair. She didn't say anything.

We stayed like that for a while after which she withdrew and still holding my hands, wiped her tears away and looked about the room obviously to spot Li. And she let out a laugh and ran to him and held his arms for a while and said in a very hoarse voice, 'Li!' With a very dangerous looking Guoen watching, she placed her hands on either side of his face and gave him a swift kiss somewhere very near his mouth. The silence, which followed, was broken by a soft gasp from behind me. I looked around only to realize that she'd come with an escort, a male escort. He was a medium-height guy, about our age, with long hair and a pair of rim-less specs. He had gasped. By then, Tomoyo had released a very dazed looking Li and was smiling at all the inhabitants of the room in general.

She can speak, but very hoarsely. I suddenly remembered that she used to have a very lovely voice and she could sing very beautifully. Li seemed to have realized that too, for he asked, 'what happened to your voice, Daidoji? You used to have such a lovely voice!' She was still holding his hands; she let go and walked towards the sofa and sat down and looked at the boy obviously expecting him to provide the information. 'She couldn't speak for a long time,' he said after clearing his throat, 'Now she's recovering from it.' His Japanese was not at all nice to hear and was probably foreign. My bag was vibrating vigorously. I punched it slightly and saw that Tomoyo had seen me do that. She asked, 'Where is Kero?' and giggled; apparently she knew the answer.

With great difficulty she asked, 'Aren't you going to introduce your friends?' I pulled Yui forwards and said, 'This is my best friend, Yui.' Tomoyo reached out and touched Yui's hands and then again sat back. Then Li said, not daring to bring Guoen forwards, 'This is my girlfriend, Chel Guoen.' At this Tomoyo's face fell. She looked questioningly at me and then shook her head and smiled at a smirking Guoen. 'I thought…' she said, 'Li had finally asked Sakura.' 'What?' Guoen stepped forwards again looking very violent. The answering man stepped forwards and planted himself between a helpless Tomoyo and a terrifying-looking Guoen. But he didn't do anything other than provide a physical barrier.

Before Guoen could ask anything more, Tomoyo said, 'This is Eriol Hiragizawa, my fiancé.' He smiled at her and then at me. Suddenly I had a strange sensation from somewhere within me; did I know him too? His deep blue eyes seemed to bore through my head searching; it was too intense for me to look anymore. I averted my eyes. He laughed and said, 'you don't remember me now, do you? Sakura?' he asked and then looked at Li, 'Li?' 'You were also our friend?' Li asked uncertainly. 'No, no,' he said giving Tomoyo a hand to help her to her feet, 'I was your enemy.' Tomoyo gave a reproachful punch on his arm and said, 'We have a plane to catch, Sakura.' 'You're leaving?' Li asked, surprised, 'So soon?' It was Hiragizawa who spoke, 'Yes, I'm taking her away from all this… She'll be happier where I take her.'

'Where're you going?' Yui ventured out in a low voice, 'To Britain. We'll get married there this coming 21st,' he said. 'I wish you could come,' she said holding out her hand to me. She sighed and let her fiance lead her to the door. My bag was so vigorously moving, I was sure Guoen would spot it. But she was busy glaring at Tomoyo. She gave us parting hugs. I wished she could stay longer, but no, there's no other way. Before she raised her head from me, she whispered, 'why's Li with her? He was in love with you.' I just stared aghast and before I could really recover, she was hugging Li. She even gave a sort-of-hug to Yui and whispered something in her ear, which made both the girls giggle. But Yui told her, 'I will.' We (Guoen insisted on coming) accompanied them till the car in which they came and could do nothing but watch them go. But the biggest shock came only after Hiragizawa had boarded the car and called out from inside, 'Give my love to Keruberos and Yue!' And the car was gone.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: I JUST CAN'T STUDY!**

'How could you do this to me?' Kero screamed at me when finally we all had reached our respective rooms. I initially thought he was bluffing, but very soon realized that he was genuinely upset. 'What do you mean?' I asked. 'You didn't let me out… wah!' he wailed. Yui left the room at that juncture. I took him in my palm and asked, 'it isn't about not seeing Tomoyo, is it?' I had that feeling when Kero started to 'vibrate' even wilder when they were about to leave, when Hiragizawa mentioned Yue and himself. Kero looked at me bewildered before saying anything and finally muttered something about Clow Reed. 'Eriol Hiragzawa… who is he?' I asked. Kero let out another wail and said, 'it's not easy to explain… I wonder whether I am allowed to say…' 'Kero?' 'He _is_ Clow Reed!'

'What?' I must have said a bit louder than normal since Kero visibly flinched. 'What?' I asked again at a lower tone. 'Well… it's a long story,' he said and appeared in all ways to conclude the conversation but for my expression, which prompted him to go on. 'Eriol is British and I have no idea how he could be involved possibly. But apparently, he is a sort of reincarnation of Clow Reed. And we, including Yue and I, got to know it only later. It's very complicated, really…' 'So, he's marrying Tomoyo?' he asked with interest. 'Yeah…' I trailed off not really able to focus. All the information had made a mess in my brain and I was not recovering properly. 'Why's he an enemy?' I asked. 'Eh?' Kero asked momentarily at a loss, instantly recovering, he said, 'nah, not an enemy. He tested… don't you remember?' 'No! And who's responsible for that?' I asked angrily. Kero gave a feeble laugh and reassured that he's harmless and is likely to give Tomoyo a wonderful life. I wondered whether their children would be the next generation of Cardcaptors. Poor kids!

Next few days' college life wasn't easy. Guoen was horrible to all humans in general and me in particular. Though I didn't hear of a break up, I could clearly see that her relationship with Li was faltering a bit. I couldn't help feel a bit happy at this. Li didn't look thoroughly depressed at this, but for some reason, he seemed to be avoiding me. Initially I was like, so what… who needs him? I had only recently come to know him, I can go on without his friendship! But, it wasn't as smooth as I thought it would be. I had an immense desire to go to him and talk to him and above all ask him why he was avoiding me. I'd have probably succeeded, but the recent kiss-episode had kind of built a wall in between us, a very sensitive wall. So, I decided to let this go on.

Guoen's nastiness took another turn. She was now seeing Toya and that too a bit publicly. This probably was meant for me to see, but Li had also seen it. Actually once we had an opportunity to see them together, not under very suspicious circumstances or anything; it's just that we (who'd come separately) spotted them together, coming out of a cinema. I'd stopped feeling mad at Toya for this way back – he seemed a regular flirt – but it only added to my hatred towards Guoen. It occurred to me only then: how come she didn't realize that I was his sister. Then I remembered that we do not share the common surname anymore. His name was changed to my mum's name as per dad's wishes way back. I decided to shrug at this and was about to turn back when I realized that Li had spotted me. Presently he walked directly towards me.

I panicked a bit, but tried to look as cool as possible. 'You saw that didn't you?' he asked angrily. Why's he being angry at me for? 'Yeah.' 'You put him to it, didn't you?' he asked again angrily. I couldn't believe that coming from him. 'What? Are you mad?' I asked him feeling anger rising within me. He didn't reply and was about to turn back and leave, when I caught his arm. 'Why should I do that?' I asked. 'To make me hate her…' he said, not too angry right now. 'I don't care what goes on between you two. Just because you've got an unfaithful girlfriend, don't put blame on me!' I snapped. Well, I suppose that was a bit too much since his face went scarlet at this and said, 'you do care! That's why you hate her so much. You're jealous of her…'

I really didn't know how to react to this. It was true, wasn't it? It was my turn to walk away. He didn't stop me – I had expected him to – but he didn't. My vision slightly blurred as my eyes filled up. I remembered someone say that I'm not the crying type and I laughed bitterly at that. I don't really remember much which had happened a few days from then, except running into Toya a couple of times. I tried to be friendly with him, he was my only family, and I can't just let him go because of a stupid girl. He was honest with me and said that he's seeing Guoen, though, he repeated to me many times, it's not serious, she's still crazy about Li.

And before we knew it, a time came when we had to take impending exams seriously. Our second semester exams were only a couple of months away. And I had pressure from another direction as well – Kero was forcing me to do further card-rejuvenating. But you have to have a reason to do that, and the reason simply never came. And deep within me, I didn't really want to encounter such a reason. For such a reason, from experience I'd learned, was going to be far from pleasant. But such a reason did come by…

I went shopping with Yui on a Sunday evening. We had great fun and she did her maximum to get my minds off the two men in my life, who were making my life miserable. And Cheyen joined us at the mall and he'd brought a sixteen-year-old girl with him, much to Yui's displeasure. He's a friend's sister and he'd promised to entertain her that evening and all that. But Yui ended being great friends with that girl. And I think I saw a flash of disappointment on Cheyen's face when they started bonding. Probably he wanted Yui to get jealous.

And we got out of the mall and we just went about walking aimlessly – four people – with no aim in particular. But eventually we lost them – Cheyen and the girl. We'd gone to scrutinize a tent, which had displayed that they sell scarves and once we got in we realized it was not an appropriate place for two girls to be in. So we got out immediately – no Cheyen, nor the girl. And worst of all, two guys had got out of the tent and were standing very close behind us. They didn't look decent. Yui panicked and grabbed my arm and started to jog, without really bothering to look where we're going. I kept suggesting we wait; Cheyen might be somewhere there. But Yui had panicked to such a degree, where reasoning fails and was intend to run away from the place as fast as possible. And after a moment's hesitation, she grabbed my hand firmly and we took off.

That is to say, she took off and I was being dragged. And soon we were in the dingiest, narrowest streets I had ever been to. We couldn't make out alleys from the main street because we soon ended up at a dead end. Yui was nearly hysterical and was hyperventilating, while I was contemplating whether I should use my cards or start screaming. At that point Yui's knees gave way and she fell on the road. Before I could attend to her, three men were closing in on us. It was dark, their faces were invisible. Three men against two girls – one hysterical and the other weak. But the cards… something in me kept asking me to use them. But which one? Jump? Fly? But what about Yui? I can't manage either carrying a load as heavy as a five foot ten athletic girl. Suddenly I saw Meiling in my head and she bowed before assuming an I'm-going-to-kick-ass position. Her opponent was a blue creature and then I heard her high-pitched 'HIYAAA!'

Praying to the Gods, I screamed the single word "fight", which caused one of the guys to laugh and picturising Meiling in my head, I began to fight. Actually fight! It felt as though the only thing I'd done the past nineteen years of my life was fight. It came out very well. Within minutes, I found two of my opponents unconscious and one fleeing. I immediately attended to Yui, who was sitting in a corner, huddled up, her face aghast with an unexplained emotion. I helped her up and said, 'Let's go, Yui.' But she didn't move, she merely pointed a trembling hand at something beyond me. I turned back and to my horror, I saw five more men standing there, blocking our only exit from that wretched alley.

I again prepared myself and was about to summon fight-card again, when I heard a loud 'Stop!' from behind the men. They turned around and one of them screamed and ran away at whatever he saw. Two of them stayed rooted to the spot and two others rushed to whoever standing there. And they were thrown off following a bright white light. Only then I saw Yue – tall and majestic complete with the wings. The other two had fled by then. Yui whom I'd been holding till then squeezed me hard as Yue approached. She hadn't seen him till then – obviously she was scared. 'It's ok, this is Yue.' She looked at me bewildered and then at Yue, who was walking towards us now. He stopped when quite near us and said, 'I saw you fight' and then he smiled a very special smile.

He looked remarkable when he smiled. He suggested he take us out of there. I knew what he was alluding to – he'd fly carrying both of us. I pointed out to him that it would look odd if anybody saw. He nodded and folded his wings around him. Yui looked alternately at Yue and me until finally Yukito appeared in place of Yue. His eyes were wide and bore a quizzical expression. 'Hello Sakura…' he scrutinized Yui as though trying to find her name written on her and finally seemed to have dropped the attempt as he said, 'Yue had come?' 'Yeah, we were followed by some thugs and he came to our rescue. I thought it'd look odd if he were to accompany us in that form,' I said. 'You are right there, Sakura,' he said and giggled a bit. He looked a bit too happy then for a person who had mental breakdown recently on a similar subject.

Yui was almost back to her normal self, though excessively shaken up, when we got to the main street. Yukito seemed thoroughly unaware of her emotional state, as he was very jovial. 'Did you produce cards tonight?' he asked intelligently. 'Er… sort of,' I said noncommittally. My mind was elsewhere – I was wondering where we'd look for Cheyen. We started seeing familiar shops and finally we came by the ominous tent. Yui whimpered and kept walking until we heard – 'Yui! Sakura!' It was Cheyen.

Yui rushed to him and gave him a hard punch on his stomach which produced an 'oof!' from him. And then she said something incoherent and threw her arms around him and sobbed. The friend's sister was still there and she looked shocked at all this and asked me what had happened. That's when I saw a familiar figure come out of the tent. I brought an arm around the girl and said loudly so that everyone will hear, 'Let's go, people. It's getting late!' As we walked back to college, I recounted the whole thing (except how exactly we were saved) to Cheyen. He immediately started blaming himself but he said, 'I was in the next tent… hell, I was outside it. All you had to do was turn back and look.' He said it as softly as possible; he wouldn't have blamed Yui for anything in the world, in her present condition. Digging her head under his arm, Yui said something connecting, 'sorry', 'my fault' and 'Sakura'.

Yukito assured that he'd take us both to the hostel. Only after that and Yui's wet blubber of approval, did Cheyen leave for his friend's house. Yukito patted Yui's shoulder sympathetically and the moment I felt relieved that he was capable of normal behaviour, he said 'Get more cards!' and left. Yui laughed as he left and said, 'weird man!' I nodded and asked her to go to sleep. She looked even more downcast, I knew what that meant – 'how do you expect _me_ to sleep?' Nevertheless after changing, she crawled underneath her covers leaving me to ponder about something, which I'd deliberately left out till now – Li. It was Li whom I'd seen coming out of the tent the second time. What was he doing there? Was it merely a coincidence or did he come there on purpose? If so what purpose? We saw each other and he'd looked at me piercingly – a question. I wanted it to be so – did he sense that I was in trouble again?

Yui wasn't sleeping nor was I. I crawled out of my covers and went up to her bed. She had her back turned on me till now. Presently she looked at me – her eyes were red. 'Shall I join you?' I asked. She smiled and scooted over. I got under her blankets and pulled her close to me. It felt awkward, but awfully comfortable. We both slept well that night. I had a dream about Clow Reed but nothing depressing. I felt refreshed and quite excited about the new card. Kero reminded me it's an old card, I just called it yesterday. 'Yeah…' I had managed to produce that card. Yui and I sat wonderstruck at the beautiful star car floating on mid air. It had the picture of a blue elf-like creature standing in a defensive position. 'I'm surprised it cooperated,' Kero said abruptly. 'What do you mean?' I asked tearing away my eyes from the card. 'It was one of the most difficult ones to capture. It only yielded to one who defeats it in a fight,' he explained. 'Oh, so I defeated it?' I said hopefully. 'Don't kid yourself,' Kero said much to my annoyance and then added, 'Meiling did most of the work, but it was Li who defeated it! That card originally belonged to Li.'

That explains why I saw her in my head. But then this should be Li's card – why am I having it? 'Weren't you listening when I told you that Clow Reed selected _you_?' Kero said looking thoroughly annoyed. Seeing my blank expression, he said, 'Initially you both competed against each other to capture cards and you both had a handful of them each. Then came Yue and well, _he_ selected you!' 'But I thought Clow Reed…' 'Yue did it on his behalf,' he said rolling his eyes. I wasn't totally satisfied but I knew that I'm not going to get anything more out of him.

I kept thinking about Li and his presence in the tent and the attendant implications that I quite wasn't aware of other activities in my life, for instance studying. Yui was taking it very seriously, like we should and soon I found myself in between Yui and Cheyen trying to figure out problems and theorems, which I'd rather have left alone. But the group got easily disrupted mainly due to my disinterest. I was excessively distracted those days. For one, Li and I were no longer friends; I kept feeling guilty, though I knew it was all his fault. And Toya's and Guoen's behaviour weren't helping either. I tried to talk with Toya on this but he kept assuring me that it's nothing serious and that I have nothing to worry about. But that wasn't the point – the point was Li was unhappy and he thinks this is all my doing. And how can I say all those things to Toya? So ended our discussion.

Kero stopped badgering me for more cards ever since the fight card and so that was one relief. But even when I'd sit prepared with my mind cleared and tried to focus, Li and his complaints pop up in my head and one day I lost my entire control and broke down in front of Yui. Till then I'd evaded her questions regarding my sulkiness, but then I told her everything and to her and my horror I ended up confessing my love for Li. Yui kept staring at me while Kero hung his head down as though in dismay. I didn't speak after that. But my sleep was again disturbed by dreams – ones involving Li and he left me in darkness, many times, over and over. The next day Yui gave me a long pep talk regarding how exams are important and that cards won't get you a job (at this Kero gave a loud 'Humph!') and similar things. And I soon felt a renewed energy and again our study group was reformed, Kero disappeared on Cheyen's entrance and we started to study.

One of those pre-exam days, I ran into Yukito. After asking me about Yui and myself, rather too hastily, he shuffled his feet and said a lot of 'er's. 'What's the matter, sir?' I asked feeling weird at addressing him 'sir'. 'Please call me Yukito… I wanted to ask you whether you know?' he said hesitantly. 'Know what?' I asked wondering whether he was alluding to our exams. 'About To… your brother?' 'What about him?' I asked feeling suspicious, as he wasn't calling him Toya. Immediately I asked, 'Aren't you two friends now?' 'Well… ' he looked down, 'it's a bit awkward to go to him after what I'd said…' Suddenly his face brightened and he said, 'he'd teaching here; no, not like me – as a staff!' 'Really?' I couldn't believe it. His subject was Physics, which means we won't be having him after the exams. 'Shoot!'

I thought I'd go meet him in the staff room. He hadn't breathed a word about this to me before. Maybe he wanted to surprise me. I asked Yukito to come and when I saw him disinclined, I insisted as strongly as I could manage. He smiled weakly and followed me upstairs. I didn't have to go all the way up to the staff room. I met him one the way and the instant he saw me, he threw his hands around me and hugged me tightly and let go only when Yukito gave a loud 'ahem'! He let go off me and grinned like a mad man and said, 'I got a job here!' 'I know,' I said trying to smile as broad as he did, which was quite difficult, and the corners of my mouth started to ache. Toya frowned slightly and looked reproachfully ay Yukito.

After berating a lot about how cool it was to have him there, I asked abruptly, 'So you and Yukito friends now?' 'Of course,' Toya said, reaching out and pulling Yukito closer, 'when have we been otherwise?' Toya looked cool, but Yukito seemed to be burning with some strange emotion, for his face was bright pink. A silence ensued at the end of which, Toya asked, 'right?' Yukito didn't reply, he just shrugged off Toya's hand and gave some incoherent excuse and walked off. 'What's with him?' Toya asked more to himself, the cool demeanor long lost. 'Are you sure you guys used to be friends?' I asked. 'Of course, we were more than just friends, we were best friends!'

Toya left me soon after and I found myself worrying about Yukito's weird behavior in front of Toya. He was positively beaming when he told me the news about Toya, but after that… I thought of dispelling those thoughts from my mind, since we had only two more days for the exam. And the next day, Cheyen, Yui and I toiled with our brains and had quite satisfactory results by evening. And as soon as Cheyen left, Yui took a pencil and a note pad and started to scribble up a timetable for the next day's studying. And I utilized this moment to get lost in my own train of thoughts, which initially played around the cards, Yue and Kero, wandered on to Toya and Yukito and even momentarily on Guoen and finally, like all my train of thoughts, landed on Li, and seemed stuck there.

'Sakura?' Yui's voice jarred me from the aforementioned train of thoughts. 'Yeah?' I asked trying my best to look oriented. 'I'm glad that we could study so much today,' she said looking a bit wary. 'Yeah,' I said and felt foolish that it came out like a sigh. 'You're not thinking of Li, are you?' she said frowning. Damn! The mind reader! I chose not to reply. 'You honestly think he's thinking about you now?' she said, her voice uncharacteristically harsh. I looked up and felt a bit relieved to see her concerned. 'He's studying and in all ways, moving on,' she said, 'Sakura, he's not meant for you.' That was plain truth, but it still hurt.

The next day, I had a little starting trouble because of what Yui had said earlier, but I was by no means mad at her. And later, these words managed to erase Li-thoughts totally from my mind. We studied energetically until I spotted Guoen with Toya. My heart sank and seeing this, Yui decided a different place to study. Unsuspecting, Cheyen helped us pack up from the cozy little bench near the garden, we were occupying till now and on doing so – 'Hey!' 'What?' 'Guoen is flirting with our new teacher,' he said reproachfully and shook his head chastisingly. And then he brightened up a bit and said, 'You didn't know about the new teacher; he teaches…' 'Physics, we know!' I said unable to control myself. A bit taken aback from the way I spoke up, he said a low 'oh.'

I thought I might as well say it – 'Sorry, Cheyen, it's just that…' I looked at Yui for some help but she looked away suddenly interested in the sky. 'He's my brother,' and continued to his shell-shocked face, 'and I knew that Guoen is flirting with my brother.' And I ended up telling him a bit more of how he didn't tell her about our relationship and that Li knows, at which point he expressed some curiosity, as he thought the whole my-crush-on-Li was a myth created by Guoen. Cheyen opened his mouth to clarify but with a glare from Yui, shut it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: EXAMS AND SOMETHING MORE…**

Exams were uneventful and Physics was very tough. Others were ok and before we knew it was next Saturday. We had one more exam left – Trigonometry and there was a lot to study and we all were exhausted that we decided to take Saturday night off. Yui and I decided to have a walk outside by about 8 in the night. It was a bit chilly outside so we took our shawls and stepped out. It felt wonderful to walk without worrying after such a long while of worrying. It wasn't like totally worry-free, since there's one more to go, but we felt a bit relaxed. We told each other to pretend we have no more exams to go and just think of night sky.

And when we were half way through our proposed walk, out emerged Kero, from nowhere. 'Hello girls! Finally free of exams?' he asked ignoring the gasp, which Yui emanated seeing him materialize. 'Not exactly, one more to go,' I said, already smelling a rat at his new founded concern about my academic life. 'Oh, I thought you'd be free to…' he began but I cut him short – 'Not now, Kero! I'm too exhausted to even think!' 'You don't have to think, really. Clow Reed has once said that too much thought spoils th–' 'Oh, shut up!' I just didn't feel like card capturing or manipulating just then. 'Wow,' Yui said all of a sudden. 'What?' me and my stuffed toy said in unison. 'Look at the sky,' she said. And we looked and remained like that for a long time.

It was so beautiful a sight that we didn't speak for a while. There were no clouds – just a crescent of moon and the blue-black sky with stars. Suddenly Clow Reed came to my head. He reminded me of night sky – his robes and the embroidery and his glow… Kero sighed and flew away, with his head hanging. He was never subtle in showing his emotions and this was not an exception – he probably thought of Clow Reed at the same moment. He must have thought of the way his master bade them goodbye. I wondered whether I should follow him. Finally, I made up my mind and as I proceeded, a familiar form approached – it was Toya.

'Hey Sakura,' he said as he came closer. And kept his head bend with gaze fixed on ground even when I gave a 'hi'. 'What's the matter?' I asked sensing something. 'It's nothing probably. It's just that… Yue… he said that he's sensing something ominous.' Seeing me look doubtful, he elaborated – 'something magical and bad concerning you and clow cards are gonna happen. And he wanted to warn you. I volunteered.' 'Oh,' I started uncertainly, 'did he say what exactly is going to happen?' 'He doesn't know himself. It was a vague feeling apparently. So, watch your back, ok? And take that stuffed animal wherever you go…' And added seeing me open my mouth to argue, 'even to exams.'

I wasn't exactly planning to disagree, but I wouldn't have been able to anyways, as I saw the seriousness and concern on his face. 'I didn't really want to worry you, nor did I want to distract you. But you got to know,' he said. I could see some sweat drops form on his forehead even though the night wasn't warm. 'You don't look well, Toya,' I said immediately feeling his forehead. He withdrew a bit and said, 'I just have a fever.' On an impulse I asked, 'How's things between you and Yukito?' His already flushed face flushed a bit more as he lied, 'fine.' I didn't push it further but I had an uneasy feeling about Yukito. I wondered whether Yui had been right about Yukito's sanity.

Toya left with a promise that he'll take rest. And I spend nearly half that night thinking whether or not I should take Yue's advice seriously. I didn't talk to Kero or Yui about this. But I heeded Toya's advice and asked Kero to come along with me to the exam hall on Monday. He seemed surprised and initially refused but later agreed as I said I'd leave a cupcake in my bag. We didn't study that night, but decided to start early on Sunday morning.

Sunday went uneventfully except for vigorous studying and me occasionally glancing an unfriendly Li with his study group. I have to study hard, I kept repeating to myself, as this exam is going to be very tough. And it proved tough. But I felt confident I'll get a pass. Yui was much more cheerful as she exited the exam hall and this irritated Cheyen who was sharing the general mood. But the overall end-of-exam attitude was in the air and idea of holiday a week later was keeping everyone feel positive about life. This feeling is probably what which made Guoen go and hug and gave a little kiss to Li. But Li reacted to it with much more feeling. As she withdrew, he grabbed her and pulled her close and gave her a long deep kiss. I felt shattered at this and when he withdrew, he placed his arm around her waist and walked off without even looking if anybody saw. And many people had seen…

I had expected Yui to give a long lecture of how Li is unimportant when she asked me to come for a walk that night. Most people had left campus by then. They were all celebrating – at the movies or coffee shops or anywhere out of college. Yui talked about general things – of stars, Kero (who was sleeping in my jumper pocket), Cheyen, studies and practically everything except Li. As she groped around for a topic, I realized that someone was running towards us – it was Yukito. I thought for a minute that he'd gone mad. He stopped as he approached us and bent down with hands supporting his knees and panted heavily. 'Hold on…' he said and then looking at us, he said, 'trouble. Oh boy, here it is…' and as Yue and I exchanged bewildered glances, he transformed. Yui gave a yelp and retreated.

'Sakura,' he said gravely, 'come with me. Your friend should return to her room' 'No,' whispered Yui. 'It's ok, I'm with Yue and Kero,' I said with an assurance, which I really didn't feel. To Yui it might sound like a discussion or something, but I knew – the trouble which Toya spoke of yesterday was fast approaching. She left after some more prodding on my part. I looked around to make sure no one was there and to my immense surprise, not only was the place deserted but also did it appear barren all of a sudden. 'What's happening, Yue?' I asked turning to look at Yue, who seem to have vanished. 'Yue? YUE?'

'Dreams are happening,' said a voice very close to my ear. I turned around and saw nobody. The place around me was changing gradually – it was dark with a reddish mist and place smelt strange. Sickened at the smell and sight, I again called for Yue and simultaneously grabbed my pendant and converted it into staff. And I prodded my pocket and out flew a very groggy Kero. 'What? Wow!' he said as he gazed around. The he said suddenly, 'Sakura watch out,' and pushed me away, now a full fledged lion. A figure had moved past me – a blurred image of a very quickly moving person.

'Who was that?' I asked. 'I don't know,' Kero said, 'but you better get your sword and wings ready.' 'Sword! Fly!' I screamed and the staff was converted into a magnificent sword and I could feel wings make their way out painfully from my shoulder blades. Gripping the hilt hard, I charged at the now approaching figure but stopped short seeing that it was my dad. 'Dad?' I asked and was forced to smile as he did so and extended his arms at me. 'Dad!' I cried out and walked to him dropping my sword and was about to slip into his outstretched arms when something swooped me off my feet. It was Yue – he was flying with me in his arms. I looked down and screamed seeing a two headed slimy creature make its way out of my dad.

'These're illusions, Sakura. Don't fall prey to them,' Yue said softly into my ear. I couldn't just drink in that grotesque scene; 'that was not my dad?' 'No.' 'So, my dad's ok. Right?' I asked looking at Yue. 'He's not here, Sakura.' He let me down as he flew a good distance away. Kero joined us and we three walked aimlessly into the red mist, which surrounded the whole area. 'It's a spirit, Sakura,' Kero said, 'it's trying to reproduce your nightmares.' That much I'd understood already. 'How do we get out of this?' I asked. 'You have to defeat him,' Yue said. 'And how do I do that?' I asked and suddenly had to jump away to avoid collision with a dark red something, which just sped past us.

With a deafening screech it returned to us. With a roar, Kero pounced on it and clawed pointlessly as it had disappeared by then. Yue stood by me as though trying to shield me from whatever that was. 'It's disappeared again,' I said getting hold of my sword once again. I heard Yue give a yell and the swish of his staff as he tried to ward off the charging creature over and over. Suddenly everything went still. Yue and Kero moved slowly around me, circling me, looking out for the assailant. Suddenly, the floor under us exploded sending the three of us flying in different directions. I screamed as I hit the hard floor and panic filled me as I realized that I was suddenly alone.

I called out hopelessly for Yue and Kero but nothing happened. The air around me was a dense granular red by then and was forming small swirls. It even made a tiny noise. It felt like millions of eerie voices trying to speak to me. I brought the sword and held the shaft in front of my face; and waited. The air went thicker until it finally formed a roughly human form. I'd seen it many times by then, so it didn't cause the initial fear. But a sense of hopelessness overcame me as I asked, 'What do you want?' 'I want your mind,' it said, voice with a lilt, but nothing pleasant.

I heard a crack and as I turned around, saw a huge tree was falling over me. It was too late for me to do anything, but suddenly I heard a swish followed by a crash and the tree was broken into millions of pieces and as the dust cleared, I saw the familiar figure of Li with a sword in his outstretched arms. Was he for real? Or was he a figment of my own imagination? It couldn't have been, as he called out, 'watch out!' I jumped to one my sides and felt something rush past me. Li approached me. He did not seem to want to help me up. Instead he kept brandishing his sword at nothing in particular, probably attacking imaginary bodies.

I started to feel giddy and slowly closed my eyes. I opened them when I heard a shout and another crash. Li was fighting at what which appeared tree-men around me. I felt totally powerless and flaccid. I didn't want anything to happen to Li; I said to myself and mustered enough strength to sit up, when something thick and red charged at my face and everything blacked out.

I saw a lot of things before my vision became clear. I saw Li's face looking expressionless; I saw Yue and heard Kero. I also heard Yui cry; I wanted to tell her I'm ok, but couldn't. But what I couldn't tolerate was the harsh laugh – harsh, mocking, debasing laugh by Li. It echoed in my head until I could bear it no longer. I forced open my eyes and was surprised to find myself in a sunlit place with moist grass and blue sky and a few bright green trees. And then I saw Li. He was a distance away and he was laughing the same laugh.

'Where am I Li?' I asked. He walked closer and brought one of his hands to rest on my shoulder and brought his face to mine and asked, 'where do you think it is?' His eyes were unusually red; then I knew. 'In my head and you aren't Li!' 'Smart aren't you!' he said rubbing his hands together. Ropes came out of thin air and fused with each other to form a huge whip. I regarded it cautiously, while I patted my neck to feel my pendent. It was not there.

'Sakura, Sakura! I was careful to remove such amenities before I summoned you here,' pseudo-Li said. He waved his hands and I suddenly was strapped to a tree and felt totally immobile. He brought the whip hard on my stomach. I screamed and tried to bend with pain but couldn't – I couldn't move at all. I was again thrashed on my thighs and my shoulder. It hurt so much; I thought I might pass out. And it hurt a bit more to think it was Li, or what which looked like Li, which was thrashing me. He stopped waving the whip and seemed to consider me for a while. I felt the air escape from my lungs as the ropes started tightening around me. It was so tight, I was sure I'll be broken to many pieces. And that torture stopped.

'What do you want?' I asked hoarsely. 'I want your thoughts, your mind, your brain. Surrender to me, Sakura, surrender to the elements. You are not to control the spirits… You will be punished otherwise.' He tightened the ropes an inch more and said, 'you will be trapped in your dream forever with me slowly torturing you…' That was not a pleasant thought. I'd wished to be trapped in pleasant dreams, but not such a dream. But wasn't it my dream? Can I make things appear? A moment later I felt a cold metal press inside my clenched fist. And it grew larger.

Li-demon's face contorted and as he came forward to do whatever he intended to, I merely looked down and prayed and wonder of wonders, the ground on which we stood started to shake and a spoke like projection emerged separating me from my shackles. I fell on my knees. I got up and ran as he advanced and stopped seeing the glittering sword on my hand. I turned – Li with his sword. This time I was prepared – I thought of the fight card and charged.

Soon, I had Li lying on the ground with the sword long separated from him. During the process of fight, he's lost his entire right arm. I knew spirits had no arms, and that it was its trick to creep me out. But I refused to get creeped out. 'I beat you,' I said and laughed, really meaning it and plunged the sword into his chest hard. The sword transformed, the star spinning rapidly, its wings ablaze and Li slowly disintegrated. After all the chaos was over, a card flew and fell on my palm – it showed the face of a very handsome man in pale red background. And on it was written – Dreams.

And soon the backdrop changed – the air seemed to be moving and I seemed to be flowing down a narrow dark tunnel. With a gasp I opened my eyes to find myself on my bed, in my room in ladies hostel. I sat bolt upright and then regretted it as I was swaying heavily. A pair of arms steadied me and as I looked up at the dimly lit face of Li, I couldn't see any trace of scorn or mockery – it was livid with concern and fear. But my first action was to resist as the image of dream-Li torturing me rushed to my head. I tried pushing him off, again losing my balance, but he grabbed me once again and called my name repetitively. I could hear Yui's voice calling me as well, a distance away. Where was she? Couldn't she see that I'm being attacked?

Ok, probably this is the real Li, I thought, as he abandoned all the efforts to steady me and just wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I could feel my head clear and I slowly realized what's happening and the severe physical pain and the contrast with the exquisite happiness which I felt just then. I wanted to spend the rest of my life like that. I opened my eyes as I felt a slight cold trickle run down my neck. And with a shock, I realized that he was crying. His body heaved slightly with a sob as I put my arms around him and pressed him closer.

I gave a slight push as my air supply ran out. He let go of me and stared intently on my face. Now I could see the entire room properly – Yui, Yue and Kero were standing around my bed and that Li's shirt was smeared with blood. After a second, I realized that it was my blood. 'So, I got hurt in the real life as well?' I asked surveying the damage. Yui nodded vigorously and gave me a hug. She seemed too shocked to speak; her eyes were red and swollen as well. 'It was terrible to see…' Yui said. 'You were being attacked and we couldn't do anything but watch as bleeding wounds just appeared all over…' Li said hoarsely.

'Try to stand, Sakura,' Li said. Though I felt really reluctant to do so, I'd have obeyed him whatever he'd asked me to do, then. I stood up and swayed again and this time wasn't so glad to be held again by Li, as I realized that I was dressed in tatters, which were torn at awkward areas and I felt exposed. Li didn't seem to have realized that but seeing my unease, Yui snaked an arm around me and asked the others to go. Kero and Yue looked at each other and transformed. Li led a confused-looking Yukito out of my room.

As the others left, Yui gave me long hug and said, 'Sakura, I thought you're going to die. You were screaming and screaming…' I felt a bit sick and asked whether anyone has heard the commotion. 'Yue did something to the walls, which became sound-proof,' she said and then asked what really happened. I told her that I'd used the cards. 'We know. After your screaming, three cards magically appeared and disappeared into you,' she said. 'You were so brave Sakura,' she said as she helped me change my clothes. I had three deep gashes on my – on my abdomen, on my right thigh and right forearm and many minor ones elsewhere.

'Don't you thing that you need medical attention?' she asked as she let others in. I was completely covered then. 'How'll I explain all these?' I asked. 'Oh Sakura, are you all right?' Yukito asked. And while I wondered how to put it nicely, he said, 'your brother will be very unhappy.' 'He needn't know,' I said knowing it was pointless to say so. 'If you don't stitch, three of those will scar,' Yui said and looked hopefully at Kero, who hung his head sadly. I smiled and said, 'I don't mind a few scars.' And feeling brave, I ventured, 'Li, I'm sorry. I hated you being mad at me. Please don't be.' At this Yui frowned and Li's eyes widened. He came forward and sat on my bed but didn't say anything.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: THE WIND**

I recovered very rapidly and the day after the next I found myself fit to venture into the campus to take a peek at the exam results, which had been put up on the notice board. I had passed all the subjects decently having scored least in Physics. Like I cared! But Toya might have something to say about it – he was after all a Physics tutor now. We were to have a class tour followed by a month of end-of-the-term holidays. Despite me feeling weak, I felt myself looking forward for the tour; though I must admit the post-tour holidays weren't something I'd crave for; that'd mean loneliness…

Yui asked me what was wrong seeing my dejected expression. I assured it's nothing and suggested returning back to the hostel. On the way we met Toya – he smiled at first and soon assumed a reproachful expression. It seems Yukito has spilled… 'I'm fine now, Toya,' I said smilingly and trying to look as healthy as I can. 'And besides,' I said, 'everyone was there. I wasn't alone. Li helped a lot!' He seemed even more grieved than ever at this, 'I wasn't there!' I rolled my eyes at this and said, 'look, everyone cannot be everywhere. I'm in no mood to hear any self-blaming ok?' He at first looked shocked at this but later smiled and said, 'ok.' 'Sakura,' he called as we turned to leave, 'I'm coming for the tour as well, to supervise…' he grinned and made a gesture showing that his eyes will always be on me. I laughed and continued walking and wondered vaguely whether he's doing this for me or Guoen.

'So, Sakura,' A certain stuffed lion asked me when we reached our room, 'how're things between you and Li?' 'None of your business,' I said harshly not looking at his stuffed face. 'It is my business, everything's got to be fine between you two for a healthy Clow-card life.' Yui giggled at this and despite my glare looked at me with anticipation. Both these knuckleheads wanted an answer. I sighed, resigned and said, 'everything's fine. We're friends now.' They didn't seem very satisfied with the answer but they'll have to deal with that now.

The tour was to be held after three days. It was a camp on _hills which was half a day journey from _town. We were to come to the town individually and our ride was to start from there. The whole thing was to be one week long and I could hardly contain my anticipation especially since I got to know Yukito was also coming. Besides Yukito and Toya one more teacher was to attend – which turned out to be Prof. Yisu from dept of Psychology. It was usual for teachers from other depts. to come as well if no other staff turns up. She was very popular among the boys as she was young and quite sexy and wore clothes which accentuated her figure, which was lovely.

But my excitement made me forget the necessary things for a tour like shopping. I had to make a last minute dash for the extra items, much to Yui's irritation. She had everything packed and kept aside while I burst into the room hyperventilating, arms full of shopping bags. I told Yui what I saw in the mall. It was Li with Guoen, very lover-like and for some strange reason, I felt a bit relieved. At least he wouldn't blame me for breaking them up and being jealous and all. Though Li and I hadn't had a heart-to- heart talk after that Dream-man-night, we had come to a mutual understanding of no ill will. Yui seemed happy that I'm taking this in the right manner. She was also glad that we were no longer fighting.

'Start packing… we're leaving in another five hours,' Yui declared. I looked at the clock – it was 5:15 pm. Cheyen had agreed to drop me and Yui to _town at ten pm, where we'd made arrangements to stay overnight. And early morning by around five the whole class will start to _hills. I shivered with excitement. It wasn't exactly the cold part of the year, but I'd packed sweaters, mufflers and shawls. The hills were known for its very variable climate and has been seen frozen even on mid-summers.

By 10 pm we both were standing with our luggage at the college gate waiting for Cheyen to arrive. I had to bring Kero along – he wouldn't give me any peace later if I didn't – and was then sleeping peacefully in my handbag. Yui was obviously excited and was making a poor show of trying to hide it. It wasn't just the hills she was excited about; it was a lovely week with Cheyen. Though she didn't vocalize it, this idea was etched across her face as it became more and more pink as she went on about the tour. I noted with some amount of dismay that this means a lonely week for me. Who else did I have to enjoy it with? Toya? Yeah right! But Li was there… 'What the heck? I might have one of these guys with me depending upon Guoen's preference of the moment,' I muttered to myself. I was so pathetic!

'There's always Yukito,' Yui grinned mischievously while in the car with Cheyen. The latter stared wide-eyed at me considering the implication. 'Yui!' I yelled and turned my face away as though in agony. Those two chuckled away with Yui adding more comments, which included my first date with him and all. I really prayed that she'll shut her trap before she accidentally slips anything about the dubious hickie which I'd managed to procure on the same night. Thankfully nothing like that happened.

'How far from here is the town?' I asked leaning forward for Cheyen to hear. 'About twenty miles. Will reach in less than an hour…' But it was nearly twelve when we got there. There was guy friends waiting for Cheyen in the lodge we'd booked. I was sharing a room with Yui and with very brief farewells we parted with Cheyen. As soon as we opened the door, Yui threw herself across the sole double bed which was in there. Since she was lying diagonally I had to manually remove her lower part of body from one side before depositing myself there and soon I was blissfully out.

The next thing I remember was being shaken violently out of the world of haze. I grumbled realizing that it wasn't dawn yet. 'Hello, we're having a trip remember?' Yui said seeing my incredulous expression. 'Yeah right,' I said and I jumped out of the bed. The next half hour was chaos with us throwing things about to find our stuff, dressing, combing and knocking each other in the process as the room was small. Kero was shielded by these feminine visions by the means of a pillow having thrown upon him. 'Hmphhh…' came his reproach from somewhere underneath. Finally we were both ready and looked at each other and grinned foolishly. And after extracting Kero from underneath the pillow, I tried to comb his fur since he looked disheveled but it was an unprofitable affair as the comb lost a few of its teeth.

'Hey girls, ready?' Cheyen asked putting an arm over each of our shoulders and guided us out of the lodge. Tai Dee followed looking lost and confused. And immediately outside the lodge awaited an even more confused-looking guy; 'Mr. Tsukishiro, Good morning!' He smiled at us as he turned hearing Yui wish. 'Lovely day isn't it?' he asked beaming in a general sort of way. 'Yeah, perfect!' Cheyen said looking so excited that he looked almost like a kid. 'Good Morning, Mr. Kasayuki,' Cheyen greeted looking ahead Yukito. Wondering with horror what my uncle was doing there, I followed Cheyen's gaze to meet Toya's. Oh right, his name was that… By the way how was I supposed to deal with him – as a brother or…? Cheyen seemed to have sensed the same thing as he looked questioningly at me.

'Hey kids, let's go,' Toya said as he flung an arm around Yukito's narrow shoulders, upon which he seemed to have become smaller than usual. 'Yeah, let's,' Yui headed towards the bus parked around ten yards away from us. We all followed her example. There were two buses – two small buses. I wondered why they hired two small buses while we can all fit comfortably into one. As though reading my mind, Toya said, 'the bus has to be small so that it won't topple while going uphill.' 'Did I say that aloud?' I muttered as he moved away; suddenly I called – 'Toya,' 'Yeah?' I had wanted to ask him how things should be between us during the tour, but seeing his excited and happy face, I thought I'll ask later. 'Nothing, have fun,' I said trying to smile as broadly as he was. 'You too,' he said with a laugh.

I did not like the seating arrangements – though I got Yui and Cheyen, Li, Yukito and Toya along with the she-devil were in the other bus. As staff we had Prof. Yisu with us and consequently the boys had to fight their way into the bus and girls were generally scarce. I felt a bit over conscious amidst all these males. Yui and Cheyen had to sit in a double seat and she gave me an apologetic smile as Yui settled with Cheyen. I smiled and waved at this and settled myself at the far back seat in between Jin and a geek called Runo. 'Some trip this is going to be,' I muttered. Runo on hearing this said, 'I agree.'

Boys sitting in the front were going a bit over the limit to impress Prof. Yisu. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself though I'd have felt sexually harassed if I were in her place. She was dressed in a plain black top tight enough for her taste and uncharacteristic corduroy trousers complete with a brilliant red muffler around her long and delicate neck. She was trying to flirt with three guys simultaneously. I tried to keep my gaze away from the front and fix it on whatever scenery provided. Scenery wasn't much but I don't think that was the reason why I kept coming back to Yisu and the boys. Ok, I was jealous!

The weather was perfect but we had anticipated it to become cold as we ascended and sure it did. Nothing major, we all stuffed our faces into mufflers and dig our palms into sweaters or gloves. Runo's jacket being thin, he was seized by uncontrollable shivers and later settled into warmer borrowed sweats, though looking slightly embarrassed. I strained a bit to see the donor and was amazed to see the guy looking remarkably warm and comfy. He kept giving furtive glances at Runo to see if he'll go into another spasm of shivering. There was something else on his face… God, I so didn't want to witness whatever is happening. I turned my attention to Jin.

To my surprise and slight disappointment, she was now pleasantly engaged in animated conversation with a rather thick-looking (physically of course) handsome guy sitting on her other side. She was plain (not as much as I) and consequently guys are not attracted enough to pick a conversation with her. But once you get to start talking with her, you get caught by the clarity of ides and the remarkably empathetic attitude of hers. The guy must have started the chat just to be sociable to his temporary neighbor but now he was clearly hooked. Well good for her! Not very favorable for me though…

In midst of the cold and romance all thick around me, I fell asleep. In my semi conscious state I imagined going for hiking without taking Kero. I jumped back to consciousness and checked my handbag for the stuffed lion. After making sure he was there I again slipped into sleep. Only to be woken awake by Cheyen, who pushed a paper cup half of which contained steaming tea; it slipped and fell into my lap, which was a pool of seriously thick clothing. I yelped and jumped up which resulted in even more damage to my sweats and muffler. But thankfully I didn't get scalded. Cheyen and I glared at each other – clearly it was the others fault. I was exchanged hands and soon found myself seated in between Cheyen and Yui. Jin and the large god had slipped into the vacant seat in the front.

It was nearly 10 pm when we got where we were meant to get out. I felt as though we were abandoned at nowhere but seeing others satisfied expression, I came to understand this is where we were meant to descend. Someone threw my baggage unceremoniously at me; I staggered at its weight and was steadied by some guy who'd been extracted from within our bus. He gave me a patronizing smile and left; Runo nodded his head meaningfully as though he understood exactly how I felt.

'What? 10 kilometres?' I asked flabbergasted. 'Hmm… mm…,' Yui said, 'no big… thanks Cheyen,' he said beaming at her boyfriend as he helped her with her baggage. 'Relax, Sakura,' he said giving disdainful smile eyeing my puny luggage, 'it's going to be breeze.' 'I'm tired,' I said eyeing the vast landscape ahead of us, which we were expected to climb. 'Not today, you idiot,' Yui said unzipping her parka, 'today we park here. Tomorrow early morning we start.' 'Park where?' I asked looking around for sight of anything other than fog and woods.

Toya suddenly appeared out of nowhere and directed people as to where they should set up the tents and other unfamiliar stuff and joined Yisu, Yukito and Li who were setting up a camp fire. I stared aghast into the darkness wondering about how all the students will fit into the few tents which were set up. 'Sleeping bags are for sleeping outside,' Jin pointed out indicating what to do with the baggage.

That night was quite eventful – all of us gathered around the campfire. Someone suggested a barbequed dinner, but that was quite pointless with already cooked take out parcels. There was music playing from someone's cell and though not very loud, it was enough to create the effect. Practically every one was dancing and I felt thoroughly left out. Yui and Cheyen were sitting near me restless and I urged them to stand up and get going. Soon I was by myself along with some necking couples sitting around the fire. I wasn't really upset until I saw Li doing a slow dance with Guoen in his arms. I looked down and stared around to find some other distraction and saw Yukito poking the fire ruefully with a stick.

I was itching to ask him to dance. Will he agree? Will he be shocked into oblivion? Will he turn me down? All such negative thoughts went through my head. I suddenly stood up and jumped a fair few times by myself wondering whether that'll make me officially dancing. I gave it up before it got the attention of normal people and went to my bedroll. I heard Toya give loud instructions to everyone to hit the hay so that they can start early tomorrow. We were ordered to get up at 5:30 am. After a lot of protests there were noise of bedrolls being unfurled and dragged towards the fire. Should I drag as well? I looked inside my handbag to find Kero snuggled comfortably between a wad of tissues and my purse. I decided to stay away from fire and unfurled the thing completely and stretched it to the full extent using all my limbs. And settled down and closed my eyes and the last I saw was Cheyen and Yui doing a waltz very close to the fire.

I woke up feeling a lot of limbs prodding me – sure enough on opening eyes I found Cheyen's hand and Yui's foot on my body. 'It's 5 am. Get up already.' I soon found out we're not going to change or anything. We're walking in this state only; no freshening up. 'We will freshen up,' Toya said, 'after we reach the top!' I was busy glaring at Guoen whose victim today was my brother. She soon dragged him away from us. 'Do we really get to change and all? Are we doing breakfast THERE?' I called out after him. He didn't hear me but Yukito had, 'yes we are Sakura.' He looked tired as though he hadn't slept at all. I realized that he was feeling lonely as well. He smiled seeing my curious expression and walked in general direction.

Yui helped me repack the baggage and luggage into the bag and loaded it on my back. It wasn't heavy compared to hers but still I sagged under its weight; 10 kilometres! We set off well after 6 am much to Toya's frustration – he apparently was very punctual. He might well be, I didn't remember. Anyways we set off, all sleepy sagging under the backpack and clinging to each other for support. Generally the mob was slow but I was slowest. Yukito hung out far behind, but unlike the general consensus, it wasn't lack of stamina but I think he wanted to be behind; probably because Toya and Yisu were leading the group and he must have felt that he must flank the tail. Anyways he was company albeit a quiet one.

'Is it that bus won't go that far?' I asked just to make conversation. 'No Sakura, this is meant like this, you know, a trekking…' 'Ah!' I said though it didn't make much sense. Was trekking a part of this? I didn't know… I decided to change the subject – 'how's it going between you and Toya?' Ok, it wasn't just to change the subject, I was curious. And as expected, he became pale and looked down and walked forward leaving me behind. I jogged ahead and settled in a pace beside Yukito. 'Come on, something's up… Yue isn't bothering you, is he?' 'No!' he said looking shocked. 'He's… we're… fine.' 'But?' I prompted. 'Toya is always busy; I don't really get much time with him,' he smiled a silly smile and dropped it altogether.

'Are we even half way through?' I asked gasping to Yui, who had fallen into my pace out of sheer guilt (she was in excellent form). 'Yeah we are,' she said laughing, and added in a whisper 'is this tougher than capturing magical cards?' Ok, she was gloating in my failure to keep up with the walk. I chose not to reply; I merely brought my parka further close to my body. It wasn't exactly freezing but the temperature was progressively dropping as we climbed. The topic of cards made me think if I could use any of them to help me climb. I could use many but it'd be obvious. I thought of Kero – I wasn't able to communicate with him other than wishing him a good night last night. He must be feeling lonely as well. I looked amidst the people walking in front of me, weaving my gaze through my classmates to find Li. I was successful though I felt my stomach drop seeing Guoen's arm wound around Li's waist.

It was obvious from her attitude towards Toya that she was still seeing him. Why can't Li see what a phony she is? I felt a surge of rage and foolishly imagined me exposing her publicly and finally my arms around Li's waist. Yukito's voice broke me from my reverie, 'Is Toya seeing anybody?' I looked up at him and suddenly it dawned to me – this guy was in love with Toya! I didn't know what to say – I was shocked as this hit me and the fact that he probably hadn't realized that I knew, it'll be odd if I said anything which would give away any doubts. 'I don't think so,' and just out of curiosity to see the reaction, added, 'though he and Yisu seems to be quite something.' And for an effect, gave a sly smile. Yukito looked down in dismay.

Finally the ten kilometres came to an end and what welcomed us was a large extremely-old looking bungalow. It had a creepy look but was nicely staffed and had the basic necessities. We washed, changed and had breakfast and set off again. I had no idea why we had to keep walking like this. Why couldn't we just walk back? 'We're to spend three days on the top of the mountain, in the wilderness,' Yui said exasperated. Three days of loneliness and wilderness. Hurray!

Again the tents were set up, but bed rolls were pushed inside the tents; it was still morning. Yui spend a lot of time with me that day, again I suspect it was out of guilt and Cheyen spend that time wisely with some of his football buddies. I must say the place was beautiful. Though it was frightfully cold (not too frightful, but still) we were able to appreciate the beauty of the place. It wasn't dense to be called a forest but still it was no park. And Yui and I spend the whole noon walking carelessly through the meandering path through the trees. She was talking about the exploits of Cheyen and I just listened; I hadn't done much exploits for discussion. So I listened and smiled at the appropriate places. At the midst somewhere my mind wandered to Yukito and his sad face. I stopped hearing Toya's voice.

It was barely a whisper and Yui didn't hear it. I shushed her and listened sharply – then I heard giggles. He was having a cozy moment with Guoen. I felt immensely grieved. Not for Li but for Toya. 'Sakura, let's go back,' Yui said suddenly aware of their presence. I yanked off her grasp and walked right into them. They were kissing, Toya's hands inside Guoen's skirt! They sprang apart as they saw me– Toya looking shocked and Guoen just irritated. The nerve of the girl – she was so confident about me not telling on her to Li. 'Sakura,' he started uncertainly, his face brilliant red. I stuck out an arm indicating him not to explain and said, 'I wanted to talk to you. Please excuse us, Guoen.' And smiled nastily at her, which she returned even more nastily.

'It's nothing, Sakura, it's not what it looks,' he explained when we were clearly out of earshot. 'Look, Toya, it's none of my business,' I began, 'she's cheating on Li; that's again not my business.' He waited swallowing – his tall form towering ridiculously over me. 'But someone is getting hurt in the process,' and seeing his expression, added, 'and it's not me!' To my irritation he didn't look shocked; he continued to look unhappy. 'Pay more attention to Yukito, ok. Well…' I stopped seeing his expression change slowly from mere unhappiness to surprise to finally satisfactorily shocked. 'He… he said…?' 'No!' I said; I didn't want him to jump into wrong conclusions. 'I got to go,' I ran back to Yui. 'SAKURA!'

Yui and I didn't speak on our journey back to the campsite. Yui hadn't heard the entire conversation and merely thought that it was an extension of our usual Guoen-argument. Let her think that way; by then I was regretting what I had said. I had no right to say that. What if I was wrong? What if Yukito was bothered by something else? Some domestic problems? Something wrong at the PG hostel? But everything about him indicated that he was in love with Toya. I really hoped that Toya won't confront him directly about the issue – I can't bear another round of mental breakdown and counseling.

I did not see Yukito, Toya, Li or Guoen during the remaining day – as a matter of fact I was all alone, since Yui soon joined Cheyen for a walk and with that walk, she had disappeared. I hunched in front of the fire, poking it occasionally feeling disappointed at all of humanity. Soon it was night time; Yisu and some of her burly buddies dislocated me from my comfortable position, added a lot of logs into the fire and soon the entire group was around it making merry. I felt irritated; I lost my sole entertainment. To make myself miserable I looked around for Guoen, who is likely to be physically attached to either my brother or Li – but surprising I found a lonely Guoen. Her expression was scary – obviously both the boys had ditched her. That made me slightly happy. I was so preoccupied with this little detail that I didn't realize someone sneak up on me until a hand clamped down tightly on my mouth and pulled me into the darkness.

I twisted around so that my assailant lost hold of my hand but hurt my neck incredibly in the process and used my elbow, shoulder and head to push him off. 'Oof!' he was thrown a good deal of distance away. Luckily I had the presence of mind to look at his face before screaming and making a scene – it was Li. 'What the hell?' I asked as I pulled him to his feet. 'Why are you so violent?' he hissed. 'You abducted me just now! I should've done more harm than that!' I hissed back at him, massaging my neck, which hurt like hell. 'Well, sorry,' he said pressing the pit of his stomach; I seemed to have hurt him. Good. 'Why did you abduct me anyway?' I asked remembering to go all awkward around him. He shrugged and looked at the ground, which was pointless as it was pretty dark to find anything on the forest ground. 'I came to talk to you,' he said softly. 'About what?' I asked a sudden sense of alarm overcoming me – was there spirits or demons here also? 'Nothing; I mean, we didn't get to spend time together during the trip. So…'

He had abducted me to make small talk. I felt incredibly happy and suddenly found the method he had employed earlier awfully romantic. But all I said was, 'oh.' 'Chel was…' he started. I kept chanting in me head – please don't talk about her, please don't talk about her, but, 'keeping me busy.' My heart sank. 'As you know, she can be pretty possessive about me,' Li said again finding the ground interesting. That was new – Li is actually discussing his relationship with Guoen. Though I already had a list of potentially interesting topics for discussion under the starry sky, I was curious. 'She doesn't like me talking to other girls, especially you.' Anger boiled within me; she can be unfaithful but her boyfriend can't talk to other girls! 'Though she has no right to,' he said miserably, 'I know she's unfaithful to me.'

What is wrong with this man? Why can't you break up with Gueon? I didn't voice that though. 'Enough of Chel,' he brightened up a bit and suddenly held my arm. Before I could freak out due to happiness-overload he was dragging me someplace farther away from our fire. 'Where are you taking me? Wow!' He had brought me to a cliff edge and the view under the star-lit night was totally breathtaking. He cleared a small path amidst some shrubs and went into it and thrust an arm out and hesitantly I gave him my hand and immediately I was pulled in. He had found a very comfortable flat rock cushioned with moss and other small plants, with a natural curtain of various shrubs and an open view to both the cliff-drop and the night sky. The sight was too much for me, my knees gave way at the slightest tug and I settled beside him and stared at the vast emptiness in front of me completely spellbound.

'Beautiful isn't it?' he asked softly. I gave a small squeak as reply. He laughed slightly and we spent a while just looking ahead silently. A really cold breeze made me come to my senses and I looked around and went super-awkward seeing Li almost glued to my shoulder beside me. He also turned his head and the consequence was that his face became only an inch or so from my nose. I shivered uncontrollably – not sure if the reason was the cold breeze or the proximity to Li, but the net result was me shivering. Very badly. After a moment's hesitation, Li started to shrug off his coat. 'No!' I yelled and got up. 'Huh?' he looked confused; I changed the tactics, 'Need. No need… We have to return. Yui might worry,' saying that I jumped off the rock.

'Yui and Cheyen weren't with you when we left,' he said smirking a bit. 'They might have come back by now,' I said feeling slightly irritated. 'Not likely,' he said chuckling uncharacteristically. I started to walk back, 'Alright since I don't have anyone to worry over me, let's go back for Guoen's sake. She was sitting by herself.' 'Sakura,' he called after me and soon was behind me, 'I didn't mean it like that.' 'I know,' I said, though I felt lonely and I had to fight an urge to hug myself in the cold, lest Li would again take off his coat for me. We walked back silently but slowly not with the initial hurry. Soon the fire was visible in the distance and suddenly I felt annoyed at myself for terminating the stargazing prematurely. I could've just accepted the coat and sat there! Or not shiver! Whatever. Li had stopped walking.

I sighed – he'd want us to go separate ways – he wouldn't want Gueon to spot us enter the field together. 'You go first,' I said looking up and smiling as brightly as possible – putting in more cheerfulness into the smile, than I felt at that moment. 'Hm,' he nodded and made a movement as to turn but I soon found myself trapped in his arms in a tight embrace. He muttered a bye into my hair and soon left leaving me frozen and with a million different emotions shooting into my system. I sighed as loudly as possible and took the liberty to shiver and hug myself extravagantly. Finally I decided I'd be hypothermic if I deprive myself of heat anymore and as I made to leave I heard a soft subdued voice from somewhere quite far right.

It was too dark and the distant fire wasn't much of a help but in midst of the thicket, I could definitely make out two human shapes, so close that their silhouettes merged. Maybe some couple making out and stared at them for sometime wondering their figures could match with Cheyen and Yui. Then I heard a definitive 'Toya.' The other must be Yisu, I realized; since Gueon was by herself half an hour ago. But a lot of things can happen in half an hour. I sighed at my foolishness and praying that I don't walk into too awkward scenes, I slowly made way in the darkness towards Toya and Ms. X. Then I heard Toya speak and the last few words made me freeze in my tracks – '… and me, Yukito.' I turned and walked with all my might back to the fire. Toya sure was fast; is he bi? This is so complicated…

As soon as I entered the visible zone around the fire, I was manhandled by Yui. 'Where were you?' she asked, her eyes wide. I beamed at her and said a 'Ha!' at Li in my head, 'so you WERE worried.' 'Of course I was,' she said and repeated her question. 'I should ask you the same thing,' I said looking reproachful but not feeling it, 'I hadn't seen you since afternoon.' She blushed but didn't speak but continued pulling me to the innermost fire circle, where Cheyen pulled me by my hand to sit so close to the fire that it singed a few hairs of my bangs. 'Your hand is so cold,' he gasped and threw what which felt like a heavy blanket over me. 'Sakura!' both Yui and he yelled seeing me overbalance and lean towards the fire and both pulled me away and finally I found myself completely wrapped up like a cocoon and wedged between Cheyen and Yui about a feet away from fire.

Through the fire, I saw Gueon arguing with Li, on the other side of fire. Maybe she became mad at him for leaving her alone. Li didn't look much bothered, he settled beside her and started poking the fire. Briefly he lifted up his head, caught my eyes and grinned widely. 'I saw that,' Yui muttered into my ear, 'so that's where you went.' Mainly to change the topic and for information, I immediately asked, 'Listen, have you seen either Yukito or Toya?' 'No, why?' she inquired unhappy at the change in topic. 'No reason.' Somebody started to play a slow music and few pairs got up to dance, but Cheyen and Yui stay put, which was favorable for me, since I was practically stuck in between the two and was feeling very drowsy. Somewhere in the middle of the song, I fell asleep.

I had a lovely dream. I was sleeping in my newly made cocoon and Li was sleeping beside me. I woke up several times (in my dream) and semi-consciously checked whether he's still there and when assured I fall asleep again. I opened my eyes and found myself so tightly wrapped up, I was unable to move my arms but realize that there's an arm around me. Li's? Wasn't that a dream? Feeling hopeful and alarmed at the same time, I sprang into a sitting position thus dislodging the arm. 'You're up?' Yui, the owner of the arm asked groggily. 'Oh it's you,' I said feeling slightly disappointed. 'Who did you think…' she fell asleep again. So did I.

The next day, the last day of the lonely trip, came and I found myself slightly feverish. I woke up several times during the night and had great difficulty getting up in the morning. And Yui after taking my temperature declared that I had fever. Toya had brought some fever meds and I had both him and Yukito fuss over me for sometime. Even though I wanted attention from both of them, when I finally got it, I felt slightly embarrassed. Added to that was the scene I walked into the other night. I decided to ask Toya once Yukito goes away. But Yukito simply did not want to leave his side. I commissioned Yui to make some excuse and drag Yuktio away and she promptly left and reentered the tent declaring that two guys and one girl are also feverish and at the same moment, I grabbed Toya and pulled a don't-leave-kid-sister-alone face and hence Yukito was eliminated from the picture. Yui gave me a thumbs up and left.

'I saw you and Yukito in the woods yesterday night,' I plunged directly into the matter lest there are more interruptions. Toya raised his eyebrows and his lips curved slightly into a semi-sly smile but he said, 'so?' 'What were you doing there?' I asked slightly dreading the answer. 'We are friends Sakura,' he said, settling down beside my bedroll, 'we were talking. You asked me to pay him more attention and I was doing precisely that.' 'Was that all?' I asked not quite convinced – ok, I didn't see anything, but they seemed so physically close that they could have been kissing. 'I heard a bit of your conversation,' I added guiltily. 'You were eavesdropping?' he asked looking irritated. 'I didn't mean to, ok? I was passing by when I heard your voice and I thought you were again with Guoen and so I listened a bit more and heard you say…' I stopped trying to remember what he had said which made me suspect they were making out. 'And what did I say?' he asked looking plain curious.

'Actually I don't remember,' I said apologetically; I guess I had indeed misunderstood. 'Sakura,' he said after sometime, 'you're very perceptive you know. You realized it before I did. I was so dense.' 'Huh?' I genuinely didn't get it at first. 'You know, about Yukito's feelings,' he said looking very serious, 'I didn't force a confession out of him or anything but I understood that it exists.' 'Aha, I remember now,' I said, 'I heard you say something like you too or something. In my head it seemed like you were reciprocating his feelings.' 'I did nothing of that sort. I am straight. I thought you'd have realized that by now. Or do you want me to go out with even more girls?' he asked incredulously. 'But I…' I was so sure. 'You must have heard me say that he hit me as well while was trying to clear the boys away from Yisu by brandishing a bedroll,' he said smiling. I thought about it, it could well have been that. 'Maybe that was it, sorry.' 'Don't worry,' he got up after ruffling my hair, 'if he'd been a girl, I'd definitely go out and remain steady with him.' 'Or if you turned gay,' I provided smiling slyly at him. 'You'd go to any extent to get Chel out of my life, won't you?' he asked. 'Yup.'

My slight fever turned into a severe fever and by evening, a few hours before our return journey, I was drowsy, disoriented and literally burning. I was in and out of wakefulness and that caused considerable concern about me surviving the return journey. 'Maybe we could postpone it to tomorrow morning,' Yukito said reasonably. 'You know we have to start in the evening so that when we're riding down the cliff it'll be dawn and much safer than a night on a snowy cliff,' Toya said. 'Then how about we start tomorrow evening,' Li, who had arrived hearing about my illness suggested, which earned a very loud 'Humph!' from Guoen who had accompanied him. 'Well, most of them would want to start tonight I guess,' Yukito said shrugging.

'I can manage guys, I feel much better' I said when a wave of wakefulness hit me. All who had surrounded me ignored this and continued on how to haul me down the cliff before reaching the bus. Hearing their outrageous methods, which included guys taking turns to piggy-back me, I shouted, 'I'm walking! That's… cough… it!' 'Yeah right,' Yui scowled, her arms folded across her chest, 'she couldn't manage the walk up without the fever.' 'I walk… or I stay,' I said with a finality, which even made Yui drop her attitude. Yukito bend down to face me with an adorable concerned and damn-he's-just-brotherly expression, and said, 'you're too sick to walk, Sakura. You might get worse.' Before I was forced to give in to this mush, Toya broke in, 'we start early then.' And that was that.

We started three hours earlier than scheduled and many were irritated at this arrangement but most of them, except Gueon and her cronies, agreed seeing my condition. I was offered various primitive modes of transportation, but I declined awkwardly and wedged between Cheyen and Yue I started my descend. They bore most of my weight than my two legs and surprisingly the journey was not that tiring. Or maybe that was because I don't remember much of the walk as I had nearly blacked out once we had reached the bungalow on the foot of the hill. I could vaguely make out that our stay in that hotel was very short, probably because of my illness and soon I was hauled into the bus. And then I totally blacked out.

I woke up into total chaos. A blizzard was raging around me and all over it was various shades of white and grey. I realized I was standing on a narrow foothold on the side of a hill and any further movement would have made me fall headlong into the abyss that was beneath. I felt terrified but it was nothing compared to what I felt when I saw the bus, the one which had me in, some hundred yards below me, tilted dangerously with what appeared to be a huge mass of snow underneath its right front tyre. The wind was so fierce that it even made me move and I had to press my back hard against the cold rock to prevent myself from falling. I couldn't even imagine the havoc it could cause if it made the bus move even an inch further. Yui, Cheyen, Toya, Yukito and Li were in that bus. I had to do something.

I tugged at my necklace and soon the pendant transformed into the magnificent staff. Its star glinted even in the breaking dawn and it started whirling. Though I had not formed any plans, with no idea which card to call upon, the mere sight of the rotating metal and the feel of the charged air around it made me utter one word, 'wind.' Then I shouted – 'Windy! WINDY!' And then she appeared.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: WINDY AND SOME OTHER THINGS**

Windy didn't speak, only looked at me and cocked her head, but it clearly spoke 'about time you called me.' I shrugged and said sorry, but for what I don't know. I had totally forgotten about Windy. From the midst of my subdued memories rushed forth all the adventures I had with Windy, my apparently favorite spirit – the spirit of the card, Wind. Her form was easily over seven feet tall, her long hair flowed way past her legs, which didn't seem to bother her as she was afloat mid air with her hands spread wide as though telling me to command her to do something. 'Help them,' I said indicating the bus, forgetting my precarious position and added as I almost lost my balance, 'help me help them.'

I let myself fall, for now I knew I won't fall to death. I floated as she did and together we glided down the hill way past the bus as I wanted to know how much they would fall if we couldn't manage. I gasped seeing the depth but a soft whistle made me turn. She was motioning me to wave my hands up. Wind blew when she did it each time, and each time, the bus righted a bit away from the edge. But as long as the large chunk of snow was there underneath its tyres, nothing was going to happen. She made an impatient sound and insisted I do it. I tried, it gave the same effect. Amazed at my new founded ability I continued doing it, while she flew up and with blinding speed charged herself at the snow stuck under the bus. To my horror, she let out a painful screech and was thrown back.

For, probably one second everything went still. I stopped my efforts and slowly ascended up the hill. And the bus came falling down. In a split second I did several things – I grew wings, converted my staff into a sword and even managed to grow a tree to catch the bus. After making sure that the bus isn't moving, hurriedly I checked on Windy. She seemed out, and in retrospect I realized that I grew wings because my flying ability had stopped due to Windy being incapacitated. I have been hearing screams from that bus for sometime then, which intensified now, probably because they found themselves on a newly sprouted tropical tree. Though nothing could be seen clearly in the fog, I hoped no one would peek out of the bus but just then two forms jumped out of a window. Whoever they were, one pointed at something behind me. I whirled around to see what which looked like a frozen hill with arms and legs running towards me.

By then I had been immune to various bizarre shaped spirits, but it didn't make me any less frightened. I screamed in fright, but did the reverse of what my every instinct told me to do; I flew towards it holding the sword high, ready to strike. It probably didn't expect me to do that, since it stopped in its path for a moment but soon recovered and started growing a spear of ice from its arm. I called jump card and plummeted into air out of sight, landed behind him and plunged the sword with all my might into the icy hard innards of the monster. A large chunk of it fell away. I backed off a bit sensing victory but it charged forth, whatever remaining of it anyway, and kind of caught me unaware as its icicle sword cut one of my wings. I cried out in pain and fell. But the falling soon stopped, I was again floating, I threw a quick glance at Windy, she was still lying, but her hand were stretched out and was directed at me.

That thing again charged but before it got any near, a flurry of wings and something silver and gold blocked my view. Yue and Keruberos had arrived and they viciously attacked the creature. I started to feel faint – probably the fever, but I soon realized it must be the large amounts of blood pouring out from my side. When did that happen? I was caught by someone, I looked up to see the gorgeous face of Windy. I wanted to sleep in her arms but without words, she said – make it yours. She flew with me in her arms to Yue and Keruberos, who had done a fair deal of subduing Mr. Frozen-Mountain, who was nothing but a long thin icicle with limbs then. I just had to touch it with the tip of my sword, it broke apart into tiny shards of ice and in the subsiding blizzard I caught a magnificent card – Ice.

I was overcome with both acute relief and exhaustion and my knees gave away. 'Sakura?' I looked up to see Li; I remember wishing I looked a bit more presentable than was I was then, my clothes messy, hair undone, face red and blue and on all fours. He didn't seem much bothered by my looks, he just hugged me tightly and without seeking permission scooped me into his arms and was making way towards the bus when I realized something was off. 'The bus? The others?' 'All are fine, Sakura. After that frozen thing became a card, everything became alright,' he said gesturing to some distance away from us. 'Where's Yukito?' 'Let's get you warm first, Sakura and your arm…' 'No, Li. I want to see Yue. Where's he?' Li took me back to where I transformed the spirit into card and I went all cold to see Yue lying prone on the ground, with Toya doing his best to revive him. Kero had transformed into his tiny form and was hovering over the pair.

I struggled myself out of Li's arms and dragged myself to where the trio remained. 'What's going on?' I asked Toya. 'Yue is hurt and he's not transforming back,' Toya said breathlessly. 'Yue,' I called him, he wasn't unconscious, 'I'm all right, Sakura, it's just I can't transform.' 'He'll die of exposure, we got to get him in the bus,' Toya said frantically. 'I'm immortal, Toya, I won't die, but,' Yue stopped realizing that we all knew what he was implying. Toya made him turn over and pulled his head over to his lap, 'But, Yukito may die, no, cease to exist, right?' 'No, he'd die,' Yue said, almost a whisper, 'though he's just my disguise, he's as flesh and bones as you are, Toya.' 'Then transform, damn it!' Toya nearly screamed into his face. Yue winced, 'I just can't. I'm not able to.'

Unable to stand, I again crouched on all fours beside the pair, helpless and wondering why he can't go back into being Yukito? Li who sat behind me, pulled me again into his arms and made me rest with my head leaning on his chest and put his coat over my body. 'Yue, you have to transform,' Toya said deliberate calm in his voice evident, and he held the silver creature's hands in his and said, 'take some of my powers, Yue and transform, please!' Yue grabbed onto him and squeezed his eyes shut, his struggle to transform was painful even to those watching. After a while as nothing happened, his eyes fluttered open and then they opened as wide as possible seeing Toya lower his face to his; then closed them again awaiting and expecting.

Li's dropped jaw nearly hit the top of my head, from the position we were sitting then, as he watched what ensued. Yes, my brother was planting a big one on Yue. Yue! I'm pretty sure it had lasted only a few seconds but in that time Yue transformed, but no, Toya didn't stop. Fortunately Yukito didn't surface immediately, so he didn't realize WHAT was being done to him and by WHOM. Toya raised his head and watched his friend waken. 'Toya?' Yukito whispered, his sound very weak, 'What had happened?' 'Sh. Nothing major happened, Yue got hurt, so you need to take it easy,' and saying this, Toya again lowered his face and much to our relief, contended himself with a chaste kiss on Yukito's forehead. But that itself was enough for already traumatized Yukito – he went a bright shade of pink.

Toya turned a pair of hostile eyes to Li, 'Ok, brat, let's exchange the victims,' and again, without seeking my permission (really I must put down a rule against this grabbing) plucked me out of Li's lap and walked away. 'Help Yukito to the bus, kid,' he added. Though I forgot the minute details, we somehow managed to reach the warmth of the bus. I realized how cold it was outside only when I entered the warm bus. I began to shiver uncontrollably. I remember a lot of clothes being dumped on me and I remember Yui's pale face calling my name repeatedly not really expecting a reply. I kept asking for Yukito and Li, as I'd not seen the pair enter the bus till then. Nobody gave me a satisfactory reply, probably because I wasn't heard over my teeth chattering.

The bus started, much to my anguish – where were Yukito and Li? I had to content myself with praying that all are safe inside the bus. The rational part of my brain argued that they won't start the bus unless those two had entered, but honestly I wasn't in the mood to be rational then. I tried looking around from my position, it was a tough ordeal with the blood loss and the mountain of clothes on top of me – all seem to be behaving normally. Strange, nobody seems to have realized anything out of the ordinary had happened. They must have assumed that Yukito and I must have gotten thrown out of the bus and injured ourselves.

'Sakura,' Yukito had come to my seat. He seemed to have fully recovered and was smiling cheerfully. His smile faltered seeing my expression. I wept with relief and had a mad urge to hug him. My hand being bound by blankets, I had to satisfy myself with just weeping. 'Oh, Sakura, don't be this sad,' Yukito put his arms around me in a light embrace and whatever sounds I made in protest correcting that I am weeping with joy was smothered against his chest. Now I wanted to see Li; I asked Yukito. 'Sakura, you must relax, you're shivering terribly,' of course he didn't hear me. 'Li?' I croaked again. Yukito either didn't hear or pretended not to hear me. I grew even more frantic – Where is Li? Did something happen to him? Are they shielding me from some sinister truth? These were my last thoughts before I slipped into a fitful sleep.

My sleep was disturbed by images of Li, rather tantalizing glimpses, which disappeared when I tried to get a better look. Then finally when I clearly saw him, he started to run away from me and then at last I spotted him, but then he was lying spread-eagled, motionless and not breathing. 'Sakura!' I woke as Yui shook me roughly. I found myself crying and shaking uncontrollably with the picture of lethally injured Li still in front of my eyes. 'LIIII!' I screamed at the top of my voice, just about a nanosecond before I totally regained my consciousness and was completely awake. One might say that my scream really woke me up and made me feel utterly foolish, especially when a completely unhurt Li came rushing towards me.

An awkward situation ensued – people had gathered around me staring at me as though I'd lost my head. By then I had nearly returned to my usual self but my appearance must have been ghastly since Li was looking at me pretty alarmed. 'Was wondering where you were?' I said meekly. This satisfied much of the crowd and they dispersed, some snickering. 'You didn't have to scream like that,' Li said as he dislodged Cheyen, who was sitting beside me by glaring at him and took the seat. I could feel a pair of hostile female eyes trained at me, but I refused to pay any attention to Guoen, who left after spending sometime glaring at me. 'What's the matter, Sakura?' he asked softly, once she's out of earshot, 'why were you crying?'

I felt my eyes welling up again as I started to explain to him what had happened and how nobody told me where he was, then I realized that I can't really explain as the whole thing sounded foolish. 'Relax, Sakura. Don't explain, it's ok,' Li said and just remained there, our shoulders touching. I don't know how long he remained there as I dozed off after sometime. I remember seeing him whenever I opened my eyes in between but sometime later he had left and the place was taken by Toya and seeing him, I pressed my face into the crook of him arm and slept. In short, my return journey was spend sleeping and I only have a vague memory of returning to campus and into my room.

I was remarkably healthy after spending one night in my own bed and despite protest from Kero and Yui, I was up and about the next day. Even though I had made a fool of myself at the end of the tour, I had my reunion with Windy and had created a new card. I was happy about whatever had happened regarding Li and me as well. Even though I wasn't in a mental state to appreciate it then, I reveled in all the physical closeness with Li retrospectively. While I was in the ecstatic state, Yui declared that she'll have to leave for her hometown the next day.

Gloom descended upon me fast – this meant nearly two months of loneliness. Yui said, 'My original plan was to stay on, you know, but someone literally asked me to leave.' 'Who'd do that?' I asked horror-struck at the existence of such evil. 'Li,' she said smiling. 'What! Why?' 'He'd put it politely that I needn't sacrifice my vacation to take care of you since there are other people now to do that,' her smile widened with all implications saying this. Naturally, I turned pink and lowered my head. She continued, 'Of course, he must've meant your bother or Tsukishiro, but I'd a feeling he wanted you by yourself during the hols. And it's been a while since I'd seen my folks. So ta ta.'

Li wanted to spend his vacation with me! I admit I was embarrassed but I was thrilled as well. But Guoen? I was not sure where I stand in the relationship with Li. Save for that hasty kiss months ago, our interactions were entirely platonic bordering on formal. It's been sometime since I realized that I was genuinely attracted to him and at times, I feel he is reciprocating my feelings but at other times, I feel that he wants the old 'us' back – best friends. As long as Gueon was his girlfriend, I can't be his best friend as that she-devil will not allow that. I sighed and returned to the present – Yui was leaving.

'Cheyen?'I asked, 'is he going home?' It was Yui's turn to become pink – 'He's coming with me. We're going together.' 'To your folks?' I frowned, smelling a rat. ''Of course,' Yui said hastily, 'after a few days of travelling together, I'd take him to my parents'' 'You're taking him to visit your parents? Like introducing him as your boyfriend, or…' I trailed off, feeling excited. 'No,' she said, 'as fiancé! He proposed, Sakura!' And she hopped on the spot, and I hopped with her, holding her hands. I got slightly emotional seeing her happiness. I hugged her and wished them luck.

Despite the happiness, I was utterly depressed seeing Yui pack and leave. Though I appeared perfectly calm, I had to fight the urge to bawl and beg Yui to stay. And finally she left with Cheyen. I kept telling myself that it's only for two months and then she'll be back in my life. Remaining alone in the room felt oppressive and I ventured outside. I wondered what Yukito and Toya were up to. I felt myself going pink remembering their kiss. Yukito ought to be free now – he's technically a student. Toya must be busy though – him being a staff and all, there must be some errant classes even if most students are away. I knew that Toya was staying outside the campus in an apartment shared by a colleague and I wondered if I could drop in and visit. Will he consider it bother? I'm his sister, I'm meant to be a bother!

'Yukito! I yelled seeing him at a distance. He spotted me and jogged over to me. 'How're you, Sakura?' he asked grinning broadly. 'I'm fine,' I felt really happy, if not a bit smitten, seeing him. 'You can't go home, right, during hols?' he asked. It was simple truth but the way he said it, I felt there was some underlying meaning to it. 'Yeah, and my roomie is gone, so I'm kind of lonely,' I said a bit hopefully. 'Where is Li?' came the inquiry. I felt a bit irritated at this - I'd not seen him after the tour, 'We don't hang out together.' Seeing my expression, he dropped the subject.

I really wanted to ask about Toya but I was sure it'll upset Yukito if things aren't going well between them. But, 'Seen Toya lately?' he seemed calm enough asking this. Assuming everything was alright between them, I said, 'Not after the trip, have you?' 'Yeah, we saw each other a few times,' he said and added after sometime, 'he seems to have lost interest in his girlfriends and is always by himself nowadays.' Yeah, I thought, maybe because he's turning gay, thanks to you. Strangely Toya being in a gay relationship with Yukito appealed to me far better than him flirting with several girls at a time, especially if that harem included Guoen!

'Sakura!' Li suddenly appeared before us, panting, as if he'd been running for a while. 'Hello, Li,' Yukito beamed at him, 'we were just talking about you.' 'Great. Mr. Tsukishiro, sir, I need Sakura right now. It's an emergency,' Li said in a single breath. My alarm grew seeing his urgency. Yukito immediately excused himself and left. Li grabbed my wrist and started to run. 'Stop it, Li! Where're you taking me?' He was dragging me towards the woods behind the ladies hostel; amidst it there was a well known lovers' spot. Was he taking me there?! I was simultaneously alarmed and a bit hopeful. But before reaching there he made a sudden halt and turned around looking grave, 'Sakura,' he said obviously nervous, 'I want you to listen through the whole- Hide! Chel!' saying thus he unceremoniously shoved me behind a tree.

'Sayoran! What's the matter? Why did you call me now? Are you ok?' Guoen asked as she came closer to Li and grinned slyly looking around, 'don't you think this is too public…? She wasn't allowed to complete the sentence, Li spoke 'Chel, I have something important to speak with you.' I stopped in my track of escaping from a possible make out scene for his voice was anything but romantic. 'What is it, Sayoran?' she had evidently begun to feel a bit nervous as well. I heard Li take a deep breath before saying 'I want to break up with you.' A very scary silence followed, I could hear my heart beat clearly in that silence. It was broken by a soft, barely audible 'Why?' from Chel.

'You know why,' Li said, his voice unsympathetic and a bit harsh. 'Toya doesn't meant anything to me, Sayoran. It has always been you,' she hesitated a bit before adding, 'I don't know if you'd believe it now, but I used to enjoy seeing you remaining loyal to me despite me flirting with other guys. It made me feel… special.' She stopped, ventured to go a bit closer to Li and said, 'I was being stupid, I know. I'm sorry. I love you, Sayoran.' Till then Li merely looked grave, now he looked positively dangerous. 'I should've broken up with you ages ago because you were such a sl- flirt. No, Chel, it's not your faithlessness. I'll be fooling everyone if I continue with this charade. I'm not in love with you, Chel. Actually I was never in love with you.'

'I never knew what it felt to be in love, so I thought I was in love with you,' he said. 'Sayoran!' Chel tried to interrupt but, 'Sh! Let me finish. I'm not breaking up with you because you were fooling around with other guys or because I suddenly realized I didn't love you,' he looked away from Chel for the first time and his eyes roamed to my direction, 'It's because-' 'It's because of HER! That bitch Kinomoto, isn't it?' she spat. 'Shut up! Not a word against her!' Li yelled back. 'I can't believe it!' Chel put her hands up in a surrendering gesture and gave a small laugh, 'You're breaking up with me; ME for HER! That loser!' 'SHUT UP!' Li nearly screamed into her face. Chel winced but didn't stop, 'I should've asked them to finish her off then. At least they should've f-' she stopped realizing it was something she shouldn't have blurted out.

'Asked whom to finish her off?' Li grabbed her by the shoulder and asked. 'Sayoran, that hurts!' 'Did you… those guys who'd attacked her on her way…?' his grip had apparently tightened seeing Gueon's expression. 'Sayoran, let me go!' He let go but kept staring at her as though he'd like to hit her, then looked away. She stepped several feet back, rubbing her shoulders and yelled, 'You think any sane girl will accept you with all your magical fantasies? I never believed it you know. I was just humoring you. One word about it and that girl, loser as she is, will ditch you thinking you're a lunatic!' She laughed and continued, 'maybe she won't as a lunatic guy is better than no guys!'

Li looked down at his feet, as though overcome with some emotion and unable to face Gueon. Guoen's face contorted into a snide victorious smile which immediately turned to surprise as Li looked up grinning at her and said, 'she'll believe me alright!' After spending some time staring at him, trying to make him lose the grin, Gueon turned away sharply, her wavy dark hair fanning out around her and stomped off in fury. Li spend a moment just standing there staring at her receding figure and slowly turned towards me and took a few steps towards my tree. And I just fled!


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER**

I don't think I'll ever realize why I ran away from that scene. It was obvious why he made me see that scene and why he'd approached me after. But I guess it wasn't that obvious to me then and that justified me running away. My mind was empty and I was solely focused on reaching the ladies hostel and hiding from everybody's view. I badly wished for Yui to be there waiting for me, to relate whatever had happened and seek advice for further course of action, but she wasn't there and I was to live with this incident, all pent up within me for the remaining holidays.

I started thinking straight only when I reached my room. Either I was faster than Li, or he hadn't made an effort to follow me all the way, as evidently no one was behind me as I ran towards the hostel. It's more likely to be the latter, I thought unhappily, as without the cards, my running capacity was below average. That got me thinking, did he really intend to confess to me after breakup? Dare I hope that? I knew that if I waited in my room any longer, Li would show up and I wasn't in any condition to confront him.

I needed to leave the campus. Where to? The answer came to me a second later – Toya. I only had a vague idea where he lived. I put on my jacket, took my purse and left the room. Would Li be waiting for me outside the hostel? Honestly I wanted to find him outside, waiting for me, and while I tried to run away, I wanted him to come after me, grab my arm and tell me he has feelings for me. But none of them happened, for one he wasn't there. I didn't rush out of campus as I'd planned to do; I didn't want him to lose the opportunity of finding me. Till the gates, I kept turning back, looking for him but Li wasn't there.

As I walked towards the bus stop, the rational apart of my brain started functioning – I just ran away from him, no sane person would immediately come after me. I decided that he may take some time and decided to spend some quality time with my brother, not thinking about Li. Yeah right, like that's going to happen! I got in a bus and boarded out at a place near whereabouts of Toya's apartment. I walked quite aimlessly before giving him a call and asking exactly where he lived. I probably should've inquired that before I started my journey as he may not be home at all. I vaguely registered a car slowing down beside me and almost stopping. Probably half a second later, I was pushed off manually into a side lane and my 'pusher' landed on me.

'Hey!' I yelled, pushing the man off me, 'what're you doing?' I stopped talking when I got a good look of his face. My heart nearly stopped seeing my dad sprawled beside me. 'Sakura, no time to talk, let's go,' he grabbed my wrist and ran. Is it a dream? Is it a magical illusion to confuse me? By then, I'd sensed a danger in the atmosphere and I wondered, as I ran letting him lead me, whether he himself is an illusion to lead me into danger or an evil demon impersonating as dad. I decided to cross question him before I ran any farther. 'Stop! Let me go!' I yelled but all desire to question him vanished as he stopped and turned to look at me. Instead I just asked – 'where were you all this time?'

'Sakura, I'd love to stand and explain but we're being followed. We must hide first,' he said. I suddenly wished for a huge cloak, which could hide both of us while we spend time chatting, while whoever following us would wander cluelessly. Coming to think about it, I do have such a cloak. Clutching my pendent and silently converting it into the staff, I whispered for Shadow card.

Even though I could see outside, I knew that me and dad were protected from being visible to anyone outside as we had just been engulfed by a huge magical cloak – my Shadow card. Some mafia-looking guys with dark suits and shades were searching about, when dad and I, invisible to their eyes stood nervous and still. 'I'm sure they can't see us, Sakura,' he whispered into my ear, 'but can they hear us?' I had no idea, but then a faint voice, as though from within me, said they can hear you. 'Dad, shut up. Let's move out of this place slowly. Don't bump into anybody.'

When we were a safe distance away, I asked dad what all this was about. 'I don't know where to begin, Sakura. Touya, you and I were separated, yours and Li's memories were modified and those two magical creatures were forced into hiding because of these guys.' 'Huh?' I replied. I'll write the gist of what he said afterwards as his words became muddled in my head as I slowly registered what he was speaking to me then.

Some really bad guy, a boss of some big illegal organization, as well as several legal ones, saw me once using my magic and discovered about my magical cards. Seeing the potential of the cards, he wanted to steal them and he apparently managed to do that. But after stealing them, he realized that only I can use them. He had managed to kidnap me, and apparently tried to torture me into using the cards for him. He had used even Toya and dad to manipulate me to use the cards. We all escaped the ordeal somehow, but it was a big trauma to me, an emotional one rather than physical – I was just thirteen then.

'It was your idea,' dad said, 'for our safety, to live separately and to make you forget all about the cards. With those memories, memories about your friends also vanished. Your memories of Toya and me, before the arrival of the cards, remained intact.' I was speechless and remained in a shocked silence for some minutes. 'I missed you so much, dad,' I welled up and hugged him. He hugged me back fiercely. 'That's why Li also,' I asked. 'For your and Li's safety, you two were separated and made to live far apart, till your powers became strong again. I kept in touch with Toya, calling from public phones, and I got to know you are becoming stronger and I had to…'

'So, how did these guys find me now?' I asked. Dad covered his face in his hands and his voice shook with emotion as he said, 'It's because of me, Sakura. I couldn't hold out any longer, not seeing you and Toya was killing me. Apparently these guys were keeping track of my movements. They must've followed me here.' He looked so grief-stricken and unnecessarily guilty saying that, I again welled up and said, 'I'm glad you came back, dad.'

'What're we going to do about these guys? I mean, I can never live with my friends and family for fear of them finding me?' I asked enraged. 'For now, we'll escape…' dad started. 'No dad! Let's put an end to this.' 'What do you mean?' he asked alarmed. 'Let them catch me and take me to their boss,' I said feeling as confident as I sounded. 'What!' he stared at me aghast, 'no way you are going with them!' 'Think about it dad, if we leave them alone, they'll keep coming back and I'm not going to be stupid enough to brainwash myself again.' 'What are you talking about?' dad asked shocked and unhappy. 'They will take me to the boss and all I have to do is to make him realize that he can't use me or my cards in any manner. I must say this dad, I have cards which can do just about anything at my will!'


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: ALL HER CARDS**

Li did run a bit after Sakura, but slowed down realizing that he hadn't formulated a plan or thought about the exact words he was going to use. He knew Sakura entertained romantic thoughts about him and he knew he reciprocated the feelings. Hell with romantic thoughts! He was in love with her. Madly! He slowed down, trotted a bit, but didn't go as far as the ladies hostel, instead went to his room to think about it.

Finally, he decided not to confess then; he didn't want people singing about him ditching Chel for Sakura; that would be bad for all the three of them. He was feeling hostile towards Chel for all the things she'd said about Sakura and he had wanted to punch her when she said she'd send guys after her, but still, he didn't want her to suffer in any ways because of the breakup. He knew she liked him sincerely and most of her actions were out of jealousy.

He decided to postpone the confession part and to spend as much time as he possibly could with Sakura, catching up with their past and eventually, confess to her. Yes, that sounded right. But wouldn't she be expecting a confession, now that he'd made her listen to them breaking up? Li now wished that he hadn't made her stand there and listen to the whole deal. Would she have thought him to be a psycho?

He fingered his cell phone wondering whether he should give her a call and ask whether they could talk. He felt stupid as his heart hammered unnecessarily in his chest as he called. He felt the excitement rise and then dim as she didn't answer. He tried once again, no answer. By then, he felt an excitement of a different nature, more of a nervousness, had something happened to Sakura? Something definitely felt off, and he decided to go to ladies hostel. He kept dialing as he walked, and by about the fourth ring, the line got connected. He sighed in relief but –

'Hello, this is the lost and found department of xxx police station, We're trying to trace the owner, are you a friend?'

'Yeah,' he replied shakily, now running to the building, 'where was it found?'

'At xxx_ and we're assuming it was lost approximately after 11: 45 am, as the last call was at that time. The phone wasn't locked and we had to look at the numbers she had called to locate the person. Unfortunately no one was picking up. Can you inform the owner?'

'Sure, thank you so much!'

By then Li was sure Sakura couldn't be at the hostel but he ran over there first and asked the reception desk of the hostel. Yes, Sakura Kinomoto had left at 11:00 am and had written at the register – visiting brother at xxx_. That's the place where she had dropped the phone! A huge wave of relief swept over Li, she must have lost the phone while travelling to her brother's place. But the unease didn't fade; he had to make sure. He didn't have that jerk, Toya's number. He decided to pay a visit to Tsukishiro.

Sure enough he found Tsukishiro exactly where he had expected him to be – the study room of PG hostel.

'Oh, hello Li! Where's Sakura?'

'Ah, Mr. Tsukishiro. I'd like to have her brother's… or could you… Could you call him?' 'Toya? Why?' Tsukishiro asked, mildly concerned. Li related all what had happened, after the break up part and he wanted to make sure that she's with her brother safe and sound.

Tsukishiro hesitated for a second before dialing Kinomoto Toya's number, 'Ok, I'm calling,' he added a chuckle with an underlying meaning. Li rolled his eyes, but at that point of time, he didn't care what others' thought about them, he just wanted to make sure she's safe.

'Toya, it's me, Yukito. Yes, I called,' he went a bit pink in the face, 'Listen Li is here,' again the irritating chuckle, 'and wants to make sure that Sakura is with you. What? She hadn't come? She hadn't even called you?'

Li swore and rose up agitated hearing this.

'Calm down, Li,' Tsukishiro hissed, palm on the phone and then continued to an obviously agitated Toya, 'she started from here at about eleven saying she's going to visit you. We didn't see her go, it was in the register at the hostel. No, I don't think she lied,' and he related the missing phone incident.

He hung up after a minute with a sigh, 'Toya's coming over.'

'Kero!' Li yelled, 'she'd have taken him right? You can communicate with him and ask, right? Please,' Li begged seeing the other man's hesitation.

'I'll have to transform for that,' Tsukishiro said unhappily.

'Please,'

'Ok, Let's go to my room,' they both hurried off from the study hall. Once in his room, Yue appeared, gave Li a brief nod, before sitting down, eyes closed as though in meditation.

After a while, he opened his eyes and said, 'Kero's in her room. She hadn't taken him with her.'

'I'm going to look for her,' Li got up and walked to the door. Yue didn't stop him but he stayed back, waiting for Toya and Kero.

Yue called out, 'Don't do anything hasty. Call for us, if you see her in any danger, and we'll come.' Li turned, nodded and left.

Li rushed to his room, took out his compass and noticed it was pointing to somewhere in space, where he knew he'd find Sakura. He stashed his sword inside a guitar case, swung it on his back, and took off on his bike, in the direction his compass showed.

Please, let her be safe, he prayed; finally when he realizes his love for her and is building enough courage to ask her, this had to happen, were his thoughts as he pedaled furiously, off to wherever his magic was taking him.

Li managed to creep his way to the second floor of the building where he knew Sakura was trapped; something was happening in there, he was sure. The windows were large and he could clearly see what was going on within the room.

Li gasped seeing an unconscious Sakura, bound to what which looked like a hospital bed and a lot of scary equipment surrounding her. He gasped see her neck, it was bare. Where was her pendant? How did she lose it? Did her kidnappers have the key? I she wakes up how will she use the cards?

'Ha!' said somebody from within the room, loud enough to make Li jump, 'the girl had the audacity to get herself caught, thinking she can defeat us!' the owner of the voice, a burly ugly guy in an expensive suit, said.

'It is true that the cards alone are of no use to me and she has to willingly use the cards. So she must've thought that once caught she'll destroy us and move on.'

'What she hadn't thought about is that science can sometimes beat magic.'

Li frantically looked about, trying to have some idea about what was he planning to do to her and what was he going on about science. Then he noticed a short bald man, in a white lab coat approaching Sakura, who was lying vulnerable and clueless about what was being done to her.

Li didn't think they'd kill her outright, as they need her if they want to use the cards. What was he going to do to her? What was Li himself to do now? He had called Yue and Keroberos, but they hadn't turned up yet. He strained a bit to hear clearly what was going on below.

'Kinomoto Sakura, with this injection and some suggestions from this good doctor, you'll become my slave, and manipulate the cards as I demand,' he said looking almost fondly at the lying form of Sakura.

The doctor spoke, 'you'll have to updose the drug periodically or it'll lose its effect. And after repeated injections she might suffer irreversible brain damages.'

The boss shrugged, 'then we'll have to use the cards to their full potential before she becomes useless.'

Unable to control the fury and concern, Li decided to act on his own without waiting for help. He pointed the tip of his sword to the glass and was about to press, when someone tapped on his shoulder from behind, 'I'd wait for some more time if I were you.'

Li turned and nearly had a fit seeing Sakura herself, alive and kicking behind him. Relief flooded him and he gave her a tight hug before asking how she escaped just then.

'I didn't, look…' she pointed to the window and there she was on the bed, unconscious and tied up.

'Mirror card!' Li said suddenly remembering about it.

'I made a mirror image, send her to them, threatening to destroy everything and to let herself get caught. I wanted to know if they had something up their sleeves, something which we didn't know about and guess what, they do' she said, smiling and went on, 'what they haven't realized is that they need the key besides me to manipulate the cards. I have the key with me. If they had known that little detail, the mirror card trick wouldn't have worked.'

Sakura gave a gist of the information her dad had provided her about her assailants and about her decision to face them rather than go into hiding.

Li grabbed her arms and shook her a bit, 'you could've consulted with us, with me, at least! I was worried sick!'

'I'm sorry, Li,' she said, her smile dropping, 'I knew that if we all put our heads together and plan this out, ultimately we'll go for the original hiding plan. This has to end, Li. I don't want to forget you again.'

They spent some time staring at each other, Li pleading wordlessly to back off and Sakura in a fierce deamination not to; finally Li looked away, 'what do you want me to do? To help you. Let me help you Sakura.'

Li turned hearing some commotion somewhere down, 'That should be Yue and Kero. I had asked them to clear the place of all his staff. I don't want anyone to get hurt. Anyone but him,' Sakura said softly. Without making much noise, Yue and Kero rose to where Li and Sakura were sitting.

'So we go in now?' Li asked.

'No!' Sakura said, 'we need a plan. I want to destroy as much as possible. This is his headquarters, as much as the building, the supplies and the equipment should be destroyed.'

'I'll wait here, Kero, Yue,' Sakura said, 'you go down, soundproof the whole area, look for any more trapped anywhere inside the building or in the premises and get them out. I'll make them sleep so you won't have to force them.'

'Don't,' began Yue.

'No, I won't enter before you two reach back. Now, go!' Sakura said and they both looked as the two winged creatures swept down gracefully to the bottom of the building.

'And Li,' she turned to him, 'I want you to…'

'I love you Sakura,' Li said abruptly.

Sakura stood still, her key, now a staff clutched tightly in her hand, her face blank.

'I know I should've said this ages ago. But, I… I know this isn't the time or place to say this.' Li inhaled deeply and said, 'Ok, Sakura, tell me what to do!'

'Li, I,' she hung her head down, unable to face him anymore.

Li tried to focus on the situation at hand, and got separated from Sakura and went to topmost floors to do his job. With his sword he could control the elements and used fire to light up all the documents, computers and all equipment he saw. After doing his job, Li willed the fire to cease as he didn't want the building to collapse on Sakura who was several floors below.

Suddenly a door opened, and someone in a uniform came running to him but as soon as he approached Li, he fell down – he wasn't unconscious, just asleep, Sakura's sleep card's work. Li sighed, wondered how Yue and Kero missed this guy, are there more running around the building? Li decided to snoop around for any more sleeping guards before going downstairs to join Sakura. He just hoped she wouldn't do anything rash like trying to murder the boss. Will she? Is she that mad at him? How was she planning to do away with him?

He dragged the sleeping man to one corner, away from all the burnt shelves and computers and went in search for more men but he couldn't find any, so he swung the guy on his shoulder and jumped down from the top floor, demanding the wind to slow down his fall. He landed perfectly even with the weight of a full grown man on his shoulder. He took the guy to a safe place and rushed back to the building hoping Sakura had waited for him and the other two. Before reaching the second floor, where he last saw her, he understood that she had entered the battle. Intense light and smoke was coming from the window of the second floor.

Li stared in disbelief at the sight he saw through the broken window, the whole room had been transformed into what which looked like an arena. There seemed to be no roof but instead there were thick angry looking thunder clouds, marked every now and then by flickers of lightning. The walls seemed to be made of fire and was burning so fiercely the whole room ought to have lit up, but no, there was an eerie darkness in the center of the room and only thing he could make out was a small dot glowing amidst the abyss. Suddenly there was a humming sound, he listened carefully, it wasn't humming, it was hundreds of small sounds, whispers and mumblings joined to form a single sound and Li found himself jumping from the window and walking into the midst of it.

'Li, stop!'

Li turned sharply for the source of the voice

'It's me Yue. Sakura has summoned all the cards and she's in the middle of it. She's controlling all of them,' he added, 'but it might become too much for her.'

The glow expanded gradually and slowly the rest of the room became visible, most of the room was destroyed and the boss was on the floor on his arms and knees, clearly delirious. The sight of the man was pathetic, he looked tortured, with bruises on his face and his clothes were shredded to pieces. Added to that he was drenched (did it rain inside?) and was shaking in the cold. Li followed his gaze towards Sakura, seeing her he himself stumbled and fell, she had become larger and was sitting on top of what looked like a giant cat, which was snarling angrily at the victim. There were several creatures all around her, some floating, some walking, some flying. Some looked fierce, some looked gentle but all had only one purpose – protect their master. They were the true forms of her cards, and they were all around her.

One look at the cat was enough for inducing fear in anybody but Sakura was something else altogether – she was in a trance, her eyes looked misty and seemed to be looking beyond the room, on to some faraway object and was sitting totally still, her right hand clutching her sword, which too seemed to have become larger.

Li panicked and called out her name. Sakura blinked and seemed to wake up from the trance and looked at him.

'Sakura, what are you doing? Are you going to kill him?' he shouted to be heard above the all the humming and mumbling.

'It looks like I'm about to, huh?' Sakura said with an indifference which scared the hell out of Li.

'Don't!'

'But Li, he'll come back for sure,' she said, her voice was pained and sounded too innocent for her to be in her true self. 'I don't want to forget you all again,' she added softly.

'Sakura, I love you!' Li was now on his knees, 'I don't want you to become a murderer!'

'Don't kill me,' the boss bleated.

Sakura kept staring at Li for some time before she shouted 'Nothing!'

The boss stood up, relieved, assuming Sakura was not going to harm him but fell again seeing a new demon arise. The form was of a silver girl, with cascading curly locks and eyes exuding pure innocence but suddenly Li remembered the card – it was the fusion of all the negative energy of the rest of the cards combined. This card was capable of utmost destruction if Sakura willed.

Nothing came close to the now sniveling boss and looked inquiringly at Sakura as though asking for direction. Li felt his heart hammering inside his ribcage, was he about to witness a brutal murder? Will Sakura allow that? But the Sakura in front of him no longer looked like the Sakura he knew and cared about, he can't be sure about what she'll do next.

Sakura cocked her head as though caught up in a mild and amusing dilemma and said, 'why don't you just give him a hug?

Nothing smiled and walked towards the fallen man and picked him up by the arms and hugged him. The man closed his eyes relieved but then opened the eyes in shock as he realized what was being done to him. Before he could scream, he slipped into the substance of Nothing and became a part of her.

Nothing turned, bowed at Sakura and disappeared. Gradually all the forms surrounding Sakura turned into cards and stayed floating beside her, forming a ring. Sakura became her usual size, jumped down from the Dash, the cat-like spirit of the card for speed, so that he could also convert into a card and join the ring.

Then the ring began to move around her, in a slow rhythm as though trying to speak to her. Sakura smiled, she had tears in her eyes, happy tears, and she waved her arms and said a soft thank you. Then obediently all the cards formed a queue and fell into her outstretched palm to form a stack. She brought the other palm over it and the stack disappeared. She brought the two joined palms in a prayer gesture and brought it to her chest and stayed like that for some time. Then she slowly turned to face Li, Yue and Kero. 'Let's go.'

They saw Sakura's brother and another guy, who Li recognized to be her father, standing at the foot of the building and seeing all intact they waved their hands and Sakura's brother even jumped up and down clearly indicating to jump down. They all jumped but Li felt himself grabbed in the middle as soon as he jumped. He gasped and turned around to see Sakura smiling at him. She was midair with wings outstretched keeping her floating. Then she took off with him up, up towards the sky, away from others.

She took him to topmost part of a sky scraper and as soon as the feet touched the floor, Li broke off from her clutch and turned around-

'What's the big idea? I nearly had a heart attack?' Was she still in trance? Is she going to kill him or something? were his thoughts then.

Sakura's smile dropped, 'I'm sorry I scared you Li. I just wanted you alone for some time. I wanted to give you my answer.'

'What?'

'I love you too, Li. I've been in love with you for so many years, Li. I didn't think I could withstand forgetting you once again. That's why... That's why... You must've hated me then!'

Li understood she was talking about the encounter with the boss. True, it had freaked him out, but he knew the emotion behind it and thought he got what he deserved.

He came closer till his face was only inches away from hers. He brought his hand to remove errant stands of hair from her face and kissed her softly and quickly on the mouth. Then firmly kissed her forehead and brought his arms around her and pressed her close and didn't let go as the early beams of sunshine peeked through the horizon.

They remained like that for some time. They broke away slowly and hesitantly but remained holding hands.

'They might worry... we should return...' Sakura mumbled.

'Then let's go.' Li said.

'Same way as we arrived?' She asked, a mischievous smile on her face.

'I guess,' Li said, though nervous.

She let out a giggle, hugged him fiercely and jumped off the sky scraper, her wings flapping wildly at her wake.

Fin.


End file.
